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Page A-6 - Shelton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020
LETTERS, continued from? page A-t‘i
White privilege
Editor, the Journal,
I’m hearing a lot about “white
privilege” these days. As my daughter
explained to me, white privilege is
the concept that all white people have
a societal advantage over people of
color that they benefit from without
knowing it. That all white people need
re—education classes to learn to feel
guilty about this, admit that they are
prejudiced, and be forced to make it
up to the people of color somehow.
Having grown up in California where
kids of all sizes, shapes, genders and
skin colors learned and played togeth-
er, this concept is pretty strange. I
learned early that there are good and
bad, smart and dumb, hard-working
and lazy, kind and mean people on
the playground in every skin color.
Google’s dictionary defines prejudice
as a preconceived opinion that is not
based on reason or actual experience:
“prejudice against people from dif-
ferent backgrounds.” It seems to me
that white people currently are expe-
riencing prejudice in that all of them
are being judged guilty because some
behave badly or have more stuff than
some people of color.
(I admit I am prejudiced. In ab-
sence of other evidence I make certain
assumptions about people’s intelli-
gence and threat level based on how
they are dressed. As a 50—something
white female, I admit that I will
cross the road to avoid encountering
someone of any gender or skin color
wearing their pants down around
their behind, with tattoos prominently
showing and a hat on backwards. That
person may be a Harvard grad, first in
their class, but I have no way of know-
ing that because they are dressed like
a gang member).
, Let me tell you about my “white
privilege.” I was born into a tradition-
al family. My parents married young
and waited to have kids. My dad
joined the Navy, studied hard and be-
came an orthodontist. My mom got to
leave hersecretarial job and be a stay—
at-home mom. My dad worked 10-hour
days for years'to build his business,
providing a living for four employees
also. My parents lived below their
means, stayed out of debt and saved
every dollar they could. They stayed
married to each other through thick
and thin. Our family was not idyllic,
but both parents did a good job teach-
ing me the value of work and didn’t
give me anything I could earn for my-
self. They taught me self-discipline,
traditional Christian morality, joy of
service for others: things that have
been passed on to my children and
their kids. Because of their sacrifices
they could help me when I wanted
to go to-school, when I got married,
and when we bought our first house. I
hear some say that intergenerational
wealth is an evil. It is not. It is a
blessing. Without it children and the
elderly are left to the tender mercies
of the state. My heart aches for every
child today growing up without the
advantages I had. Every child should
be safe, valued and mentored. But
these are not magical advantages that
occur based on skin color. These bene-
fits happened because of choices made
by my parents every day for years.
They had no special advantages. The
choices they made are available to
every US. citizen today.“ These are
social and moral choices that only in-
dividuals can make for themselves. I
' refuse to accept illegitimate guilt over
the results of life-choices made by my ‘.
parents and grandparents. Instead
of chest-beating and throwing ashes
on our collective heads, wouldn’t it be
more productive to turn our empathy
and acéumulated wealth toward mak-
ing sure that every child gets to grow
up like I did? If we go back to valuing
things like personal responsibility,
self-sacrifice, long-term gain over
instant gratification, service above
self and merit-based rewards, we will
transform our society in a way that
Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham
Lincoln and our founders envisioned. .
Brenda Windom
Shelton"
Fly the
Russian flag
Editor, the Journal,
The Journal published a picture
of a lifted pickup truck with rock—
throwing oversize tires sporting a
Trump flag and an American flag. I
keep seeing Trump followers flying
American flags, which is really quite
disturbing. They really should be fly-
ing a flag consisting of the Russian
Federation. That’s much more ap—
propriate for Trump and his acolytes
given his decades-long connection to
mother Russia, and his devotion to
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, the
polonium-210 and Novichok-armed
dictator. While Trump repeatedly
screams “no collusion‘,” there is a vast
trove of evidence showing his decades—
long money—laundering connection
with the Russians, and it appears
that he is likely in financial debt to
Putin and his oligarch vassals and
thus is a Russian asset. So Trump
worshipers please fly the appropriate
flag and stop disrespecting the Stars
and Stripes. ’
Martin Felix
Shelton
We can handle
the truth
Editor, the Journal,
In‘response t0,AA.’s Sept. 10
rambling, almost incoherent fantasy
about some made-up female rioter in
Seattle, he suddenly pivots and asks
the question, what has former Vice
President Joe Biden done for the past
35 years? Well A.A., Mr. Biden has
unselfisth dedicated his life to public I
service. In that sa'me time period, I
'ask you A.A., what has the Donald
done other than serve himself? Mak-
ing as much money as he can while
bragging'he'pays no taxes, building
monuments dedicated to himself
emblazoned with his name, enticing
people to invest in his various vanity
projects such as Trump University
then filing bankruptcy to save him-
self and leaving his fellow taxpaying
citizens to lose out on both tuition
and the education promised. When
in fact he has filed bankruptcy six
times, bailing himself out 'while leav-
ing thousands of employees without
jobs. His many business failures are
well-documented, so why would you
consider someone so inept at run-
ning a business to run a country? Not
to mention moral standards. Would
Hillary Clinton have even been con-
sidered as a' candidate had she had
five children by three different men?
The truth is the Donald has always
been about himself and seemingly
still is. Rather than putting Ameri-
~ can taxpaying citizens first, he has
forgotten the president is a public
servant and should be humbled by
the trust placed in him. But Trump
spends a lot of time talking about
himself, beating his chest and calling
everyone childish names. If he had
been doing as good a job as he claims,
his accomplishments would speak for
themselves and would be enough to
get him re—elected, rather than having
to hold COVID-spreading rallies. In-
stead, I see an insecure person trying
desperately to hold on to a job that he
sees as a prize to be won rather than
a calling to serve his country. I see
a person whose ego has not allowed
him to relate to the true needs of the
citizens he has promised to serVe. I
see a president who blames everyone
and anyone for any failures but takes
all the credit for any success. I ask
you, A.A., when is it OK for anyone in
a position of responsibility to blame
their failures on their predecessors?
Any person holding a job four years
that still blames every job holder be-
fore them for their mistakes would be
fired from that position. Why then,
would we re-elect a president that
does?
As to the handling of the CO-
VID-19 crisis, I personally believe we
as a collective intelligent society can
handle the truth. We don’t need to be
protected from the boogie man, we
need factual information in a calm
manner backed up by a firm plan of
action. It’s not necessary to “jump up
and down” to get a message across.
Our so—called leader has‘failed Ameri-
ca there too.
Patricia Hawley
Shelton
Well done, Shelton
Editor, the Journal,
Dearspeople of Shelton:
I just want to say you are a perfect
example of what community should
look like.
Although I do not live in Shelton,
my husband was born in Shelton, I
have friends and family there, and my
in-laws have small businesses down—
town..I was fearful for what would
take place when I heard there would
be protest in your small town, given
what has taken place in other towns
during protests. I watched several
live feeds of the protest and saw the '
coverage. Sfiélmn'should be so proud
of their small town. The men and
woman of Shelton really came togeth-
er, some even staying all night just to
ensure businesses were kept safe. I
would be proud to call Shelton home.
’ Lauralee Cederlund
A poem of bigotry
Editor, the Journal,
. Being sequestered these past
months afforded me the opportunity
to sort through the many boxes of
papersone can accumulate over the
years and then relegate to an attic.
Amongsome college papers on cre-
ative writing, I found a clipping of
a poem that was sent to columnist
Abigail Van Buren (better known as
“Dear Abby”). I’ve had the clipping
for quite some time and the paper is
deeply yellowed now. The letter from
Stuart decried what he felt was the
tragic rebirth of bigotry today, here
and elsewhere. “Whenever I hear
about intolerance, I’m reminded of an
old poem (I do not know the author).
It made me think. Perhaps it will
touch one of your other readers as
well.” It was signed, George R. Goldie
IV, Oxnard, California.
Dear Abby’s response was: “Dear
George: The poem is long, but it’s well
worth space in this column. Read on:”
. THE COLD WITHIN
Six humans trapped in happen-
stance ‘
In dark and bitter cold, .
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story’s told. ,
Their dying fire in need of logs
The first woman held hers back,
For of the faces around the fire,
She noticed one was black.
The next man looking across the
way
Saw not one of his church,
And couldn’t bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch,
Why should his log be put to use,
To warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back and
thought
0f the wealth he had in store,
And how to keep what he had
earned,
From the lazy, shiftless poor.
The black man’s face bespoke re-
venge
As the fire passed from sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group
Did naught except for gain,
Giving only to those who gave,
Was how he played the game.
The logs held tight in death’s still
hands
Was proof of human sin,
They didn’t die from the cold with-
out,
They died from the cold within.
With all that is happening around
the world and in our country, it is my
fervent hope that his poem might re-
mind us all of the need for tolerance.
Respectfully submitted,
Cheryl A. Dunning
Shelton
Trump is a blight
Editor, the Journal, '
Friday, the president honored the
dead from 9/11 by giving one of the
most robotic speeches in presidential
history. He displayed the emotion
of an El Paso resident stepping on a
cockroach. And, npw, over 190,000
US. residents have died of CO-
VID—19, and he acts just as empathic.
Just ask the family and friends of the
190,000 if they think it’s a Democratic
hoax or fake news.
Turning to history —— for over six
decades, Republicans have catatoni-
cally frothed at the mouth over the
evil Soviet Empire (Star Wars?) And,
now, Russia is led by a former offiv-
cial of the KGB, Vladimir Putin, who
makes Darth Vader look like a Jesuit
monk. What happened to all the Re-
publicans who voted for Eisenhower,
Reagan and two Bushes? It seems
that Vladimir has Donald firmly by
the wallet, or maybe a couple of his
body parts, too. So, Donald has be-
come the highest-level Russian spy in
the history of the Cold War and be-
yond. Remember, the Soviets couldn’t
beat us in the nuclear arms race or
with industrial productivity so they
are “over-cybering” us, such that the
story lines of the books “1984” and
“BraVe New World” are coming true.
. The vast majority of my Republi-
can friends are totally grossed out by
the Donald, who can’t be a gentleman,
' verifiably cheats at golf, lies all the
time (verified by a broad spectrum of
experts in many fields, thousands of
times) and has a total lack of empathy
(i.e., John McCain and the war dead
are “total losers”). But that attitude
stems from the parenting he received
from his dad, Fred. All you have to '
do is read his niece Mary Trump’s
book about the family pathology, or
a number of other “insider” books or
interviews about what Donald Trump
is really like. Think Bolton, Mattis,
Cohen, etc.
ENUF said, please do your read-
ing, and vote in November like the
future of our country depends on it.
William Busacca
' Shelton
see page A-7