Letters | Musings on letters

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Musings on letters

Alan Bloom’s letter in your July 15 issue accurately describes the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center as irrelevant (“Peace center is irrelevant”). The Boulder address, I think, undermines its mission. Beyond that, the good Mr. Bloom’s simplistic, meaningless rhetoric (“…Ronald Reagan’s defeat of the Soviet Union…”) undermines his sarcasm.

But let us not overlook the gem that follows from one Tawn Orthalek from Grosse Point Shores, Mich., who’s convinced that Obama “wishes to destroy capitalism …” (“Obama vs. Capitalism”). Fascinating. But if you really wanted to destroy capitalism, wouldn’t you just let it run its course?

Doug Richards/Eldorado Springs

Chamber is wrong

(Re: “Chamber opposes ‘Big Bad 3,’” News briefs, July 8.) Some observations about the anti-taxpayer announcement in the “Briefs” section.

Taxpayers will take it in the “briefs” if they heed the chamber of commerce opposition to pro-taxpayer ballot issues 60, 61 and 101. Issue 101 alone will save average families $500 a year, documented at COtaxreforms.com. Are you going to let some selfish “suits” talk you out of your tax relief?

Why did the Denver Chamber spend $500,000 to keep you from enjoying a $10 car registration fee, instead of the $70 or $90 you’re paying now, which just doubled without voter approval?

How much will your prices at stores increase to repay the $1.5 million the opposition has raised so far? See the Opposition Funding link at the above website, revealing $50,000 donations from a bank in Spain, a financial house in Canada, a law firm in Nebraska, an investment bank in Missouri, etc., etc.

The fiscal impact is less than 2 percent of total state and local government spending, which the U.S. Census has calculated as over $50 billion yearly. How does a slower rate of future growth destroy the state? Is it bad for you to have more money to spend? No. Is it bad for the economy? No.

The alleged “loss” (tax savings) in Boulder from passage of the issues has doubled in the past month. How old were you when you learned people will lie to you to get your money? Now, which side in this campaign wants your money? Not us — we want you to keep more of it.

These measures are not “draconian,” a reference to Count Dracula. Our side does not have the blood-sucking parasee sites in this campaign.
Furthermore, the tax relief is not “very extreme,” but is phased in
over four to ten years, unlike government’s tax increases, which fully
hit us overnight.

What was the secret political payoff to get Big Business to oppose tax relief for the little guy?

We
wish your free advertising for opponents had mentioned our website
—COtaxreforms.com — as well as theirs. “Fair and balanced” — what a
concept!

Thanks! Natalie Menten/Lakewood

(Editor’s
note: The origins of the term “draconian” have nothing to do with Count
Dracula. The word is an adjective that references the harsh code of
laws promulgated by Draco, the first lawgiver of ancient Athens.)

White guilt redux

This letter is being
written in response to Sue Anderson’s letter, printed in the July 8
Boulder Weekly (“Not guilty”). Her letter was in response to Pamela
White’s article about white guilt in the previous issue (“White guilt,”
Uncensored, July 1). Dear Sue: In your letter, you admit your
privileged status as a white woman and state, “How is it that since I
have this life, I should consequently consider myself racist? I don’t
get it.” I am writing today to help you “get it,” as I believe your
question to be sincere and not merely rhetorical.

First of all, racism
is, by Webster’s definition, institutional. This means that while a
person of color living in the United States may very well be bigoted,
it is literally impossible for them to be racist, by definition.

You
state that your first experience of racism was in college. Well, that
says a lot right there. I remember the first time I was socialized with
African Americans (in 1976) in the first grade: I was telling my
classmate that she was brown, and she was quite insistent that she was
black. I had no notion of the significance of this color debate. My
point is that at 6 years of age, she already knew the ugly face of
racism and what it would or could mean for her for the rest of her
life. People like you and me (I am white) might be quite a bit older
before we are directly challenged by bigotry.

One
of the primary attributes of white privilege is to be ignorant that you
are privileged, or to remain ignorant of the degree of your (our)
privilege. Another attribute of that privilege is to deal with the
topic when you feel like it, not necessarily as part of daily living.

You further state that white people are responsible for “creating millions of jobs” and that “Washington, Jefferson and
that noble group of white guys are going down.” Your ignorance would be
laughable if it weren’t so sad. Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner
until the day he died! Had you, as a woman of any color, been alive in
his time, you would have been well aware that you were a second-class
citizen with no right to vote or do much else in determining your
future.

As for
creating millions of jobs, what usually happens is white industrialists
steal land from earth-based agrarians, pushing them to un-farm-able
places, while spreading the economy of dollars (as opposed to an
earth-based existence). Having been aggressively pushed off the land of
their ancestors, these same people are then forced to work in the white
man’s factory(s) or industrial farms in order to survive. The
aforementioned group of “noble white guys” became expert at doing this
with native American Indians; their descendants are doing it to this
day all around the world.

Sue,
I thank you for writing and creating an opportunity to respond, for I
believe your perspective is probably that of the majority of white
Americans. I had a perspective similar to yours for a number of years.
I am a professional drummer. I earn the bulk of my income playing
African rhythms and hand drums. From African Americans of all ages,
incomes, and locales, I have encountered a variety of responses to my
endeavors, and that is perhaps material better shared at another time.

But
my point is that were I to continue, in integrity, on the path I’ve
been on for some 20 years now, I would have to do some reading, as well
as a lot of listening. So before you or anyone who shares your
perspective takes the time to respond, I would like to suggest some
reading: A People’s History of The United States by Howard Zinn, The Making of a Slave by Wille Lynch, and a short 20-minute video The Story of Stuff. These sources contain a wealth of information that our whitewashed “education” conveniently managed to overlook.

Scott Parker Mast/Boulder

What
do Pamela White’s editorial of July 1 and Sue Anderson’s rebuttal of
July 7 have in common? They both stifle the conversation about race by
conflating guilt with responsibility. Anderson’s defensive and angry
reaction is the predictable outcome of White’s moralizing that, even if
individual white people do not perpetrate racist acts or experience
racist feelings, they should still individually feel bad. As always,
the debate stalls right there. White’s laudable intention of starting a dialogue
ends with one harsh riposte, and silence again descends. Those who
choose to feel “white guilt” can retreat into the satisfying illusion
(common in Boulder) that feelings alone will accomplish something.
Those who reject “white guilt” can retreat into the satisfying illusion
(common in other parts of Colorado) that, because they personally have
nothing to be ashamed of, they also have no responsibility for racial
inequality in America.

How
about if we try something different and drop our obsessive focus on the
feelings, good or bad, of white people? Guilt and remorse are important
steps in the reconciliation of individual bad acts, but shame is a poor
motivator of public policy discussions.

On
the other hand, a sense of responsibility is a good motivator. As
citizens of a (barely) functioning democracy, each citizen is
responsible for how that democracy works, whether we voted for those in
power or not. If our society suffers from unequal access to education,
jobs, health care, and other public goods, we are all responsible,
whatever our skin color happens to be. Our discussion about how to fix
racial inequalities would be significantly empowered if we were not
required to debate, as a threshold issue, whether we ought to feel
personal shame about them.

John Tweedy/Boulder

End oil dependence

The British
Petroleum oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has made us realize that
we need to invest in solutions that provide safe, convenient and
low-carbon transportation choices for all American citizens. The
Livable Communities Act, introduced by Sen. Dodd, would invest in local
projects that would provide lowcarbon options and would reduce our
independence on oil and improve public health. Please encourage your
senators to co-sponsor this bill.

Carole Mock/Lafayette

The high price of higher ed

Education is
not free nor should it be. As a Colorado high school teacher, I see our
next generation of college students in the classroom every day. I hear
their aspirations and their dreams for college. I also see those dreams
drift away due to the ever-increasing cost of higher education.

I am Robert
Bishop-Cotner, “BC” for short. I am a teacher, and I am running for CU
Regent in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. My goal is to ensure
that more Coloradoans have the opportunity to reach for their dreams of
learning for life through higher education. Our children should not
have to settle for what they have simply because college costs are
beyond their reach. Parents should not have to choose which child they
provide the educational opportunity. I believe we should “Never Settle”
for status quo.

We
all make sacrifices to ensure opportunities are available to us. The
question is, “When is the cost too much?” Should the cost of higher
education only be affordable to the few? Should we continue to allow
the cost of higher education to escape those that have an educational
dream beyond high school?

Writing
this, I think back to my own dreams of college after high school. It
was evident neither my wife nor I could afford a higher education. We
needed to do something, so I enlisted in the military — that was not a
bad thing. During that time, we each received our bachelor’s degrees
through non-traditional means — i.e., mail-in courses, small classrooms
in non-university settings, even night courses. After the military, the
Veteran’s Administration helped meobtain my teaching license and master’s degree in special education in the more traditional manner.

College
tuition is on a steady increase. The national average rose 6.5 percent
for 2009-2010 school year, and will rise again this year. Tuition rates
for the average in-state undergraduate student will go up 9 percent
this year at CU-Boulder for a total of $7,018 per year. At the same
time universities and colleges throughout the nation are challenged
with providing access to all students without compromising the quality
of educational programs or services. The current political push in
Colorado is to increase the number of out-ofstate enrollments for the
purpose of gaining more tuition dollars — but I ask, “At what cost to
Colorado youth?” The problem is multi-faceted with many pieces yet
unidentified, and one not easily resolved. There is not one slam-dunk
solution. We must provide for the future of Colorado and America
through education by ensuring Colorado students an affordable higher
education with the benefits of life learning. Help me address this
issue byelecting me to the CU Board of Regents for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.

To learn more about my goals and ambitions for Colorado education, go to www.bc4cu.com.

Robert Bishop-Cotner/Windsor

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