Our shared past
Normally I’d be amused, but but these days I am saddened by the ignorance regarding the harsh rhetoric about immigration. So here’s something to think about. Unless someone is a Native American, every one of us came from an ancestor who was an immigrant. That’s how we got here, so people should look in the mirror when they speak against immigration.
By: Alan J. Parks
Questioning greatness
I debated about writing this letter until I got the ad for the purchase of a “fully-functional Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum” in my morning paper. Is this how we make America great again? When were we great? Was it when we brought captive Africans to our shores for slaves? Was it when we wrote that “all men are created equal,” except for non-whites, women, or even “white” men who did not own property? Was it when for the purpose of increasing representatives to the House in Washington we agreed to count slaves as three-fourths of a person? Was is when the native peoples of this country were repeatedly driven from their treaty-designated lands if those lands became desirable by white men? Was it when women were denied entry in medical schools, law schools, fired as teachers if they married, and couldn’t vote? Was it when Jewish and non-white people couldn’t live in certain areas? Was it when American citizens were harassed, tortured and hanged for not being white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants? Was it when American citizens of Japanese descent where taken from their homes and placed in internment camps? Was it when people of different racial backgrounds could not legally fall in love and get married in certain states? Was it when we retaliated against Iraq when we knew they were not responsible for 9/11?
Please, is this where we place our pride and greatness? And should I, with no background check, be able to buy a fully functional, gold-plated gun covered in “patriotic” symbols as a symbol of that pride?
By: Nancy Howell
Quick Rants 