Change the tone of
discussion
I enjoy reading Boulder Weekly at my local Louisville pub. In the latest issue [Sept. 7-13], I liked the article about CBDs [Re: Weed Between the Lines]; I think that’s useful info for states considering passing marijuana laws. I took an extra copy to mail to a friend in Minnesota. I also am investigating a recipe for schnecken [Re: Tasting Menu] as I make cinnamon caramel rolls for my family and had a similar idea.
I am, however, disappointed that your editorials and political cartoons are so hate-filled. I am concerned that this country is headed for civil war, and I wonder if someday you’ll look back and think you might have toned it down a little and given Trump a chance.
I know: he has a grotesque personality. Even Ann Coulter said so. But he represents a lot of voters such as myself who are angry with politics as usual and think the Republican Party should be disbanded or fail completely. I would have never voted for the alternative but that’s not my point. I am not a Nazi, or a Klansman, or a fascist. I’m a retired engineer. There is no such thing as “violence for a good cause.” I don’t want to see American History X played out on the streets of this country.
Scott Waisanen/Louisville
All sides need to step up
I’m a 48-year-old, half white, half black (identified black), American male raised in a white community (Boulder) by a white mother and grandmother from Germany.
People have always said I’m a great listener. And, I’ve heard it all: from blacks telling me I talk and act too white; to whites saying my hair and skin disgust them.
I’ve lived in Kansas and Los Angeles (five years in each), and after traveling coast to coast 25 weekends a year for five years, decided to call Boulder home because of family, a few friends, the mountains and 300 days of sunshine a year.
I have a B.A. in elementary education, an MFA in writing, taken additional graduate courses and studied and written enough about prejudice, language and perception to have two Ph.Ds.
I understand Trump’s point over Charlottesville too well: violence, hate and exclusion are the real enemies — things both conservatives and liberals do. Conservatives and liberals in the Boulder Valley School District have determined my lifelong dreams, experience, skills, education and work ethic wouldn’t benefit BVSD as a teacher, so I’m driving buses.
But, Trump’s rhetoric also echoes conservatives and liberals in Boulder in 1993, who shrugged off a KKK leader saying he’d like to live in Boulder, and have done virtually nothing to change awareness and demographics since.
I don’t envy Trump — stereotypes and assumptions make communicating complicated. Still, he’s doing a poor job. For those who think otherwise please consider:
Racists are celebrating! Why single out strong responses from only liberals?
Why can’t Trump speak about white supremacists and Nazis without a teleprompter?
The sight of hundreds of men carrying torches, clubs, automatic weapons and Nazi flags scares the hell out of me. About as much as a president who can’t instantaneously and passionately call terror by its’ many names.
Curtis Griffin/Boulder
