COVID-19 Response
Letter to the Editor:
MOUNT VERNON – Our country often seems terribly divided, but there are at least a few things that we can all agree on: We all want schools to open fully. We all want businesses to fully reopen. We all want people back to work. And we all want to be safe.
Though it may not have been obvious two to three months ago, it is clear now that none of these shared hopes will happen until COVID-19 is under control. Unfortunately, rather than modeling American ingenuity and greatness, the United States continues to fall tragically short. Rather than being revered in the rest of the world, we are pitied because our pandemic response has decimated our economy and resulted in deaths now exceeding 200,000 Americans. Although the United States has only 4% of the world's population, we've had 21% of the deaths and almost 23% of the total virus cases. Compared to New Zealand, which has had 5 deaths per million residents, the U.S. has had 571 deaths per million people.
Why is this? We might learn from countries as diverse as Vietnam, New Zealand and South Korea, which all have managed COVID-19 effectively. What do these countries have in common? First, their top leadership recognized and responded to the crisis early. Their national governments ensured that needed resources were available; including testing, contact tracing and protective equipment. Second, health officials taking the lead. And finally, political leaders followed and modeled the recommendations of the public health officials, even when citizens pushed back on these restrictions and hardships.
To address this pandemic, we needed a coordinated federal response from the top of government. That is not what we got. We deserve better than this. I value life and I will be voting for Biden/Harris in November.
Janet Chandler
Mount Vernon
Black Lives Matter
Letter to the Editor:
MOUNT VERNON – When people respond to Black Lives Matter signs, with "all hues matter" or "white lives matter"; of course they do, don't speak the obvious! When a black man is shot seven times by police. When police break down a door, on a no-knock warrant and shoot another civil servant, even if her boyfriend shot first. Note no drugs were found— their reason for their break in. There are many other similar cases. Now, you can say this also happens to white people. But it's a percentage of Blacks in comparison to Whites.
I recently read a book for the second time called "The Color of Law." Did you know a Black person could not get an FHA or GI loan for a house until 1973, even though they served in the military. They could not get an education on the GI Bill.
Most deeds through even the 60s were for Whites only. So a Black could not buy in these segregated areas. They could only buy in and around heavy industry, where the smog and environment was bad. Black-only areas where their taxes were often more than White residential suburban areas. There were so many ways to keep us apart, telling Whites their property values would go down if a Black family moved into the neighborhood.
They were kept for many years out of unions and higher-paying jobs because of their skin color, not their education. Even if the job was the same, the pay was not.
Knowing the wealth of most middle-class families is in their homes, when it's passed down to the next generation who do you think benefits most? That's the biggest reason why there is such a wealth gap between people of color and Whites.
So is it surprising, when the above happens to them time and time again over years, that they say, "Enough, Black Lives Matter."
These protests are peaceful on one side; there are vandals that take advantage and destroy property and loot/steal. That's not the Black Lives Matter protestors.
What doesn't make sense is a president that emboldens white supremacy. That pits us against each other.
A while back, a writer said that slavery was just in the South and not in the North. The original colonies all had slaves. Then statehood came to them and others, Ohio in 1803. Around 1854, the Dread Scott decision came down. It made it law that slave catchers could come into the North, and abolitionists and others could be fined, jailed or both for assisting a slave. After the Civil War in around 1877 and the end of Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws kept the Black man down— along with share croppers, which was nothing but legalized slavery— so how about needing some black history and making an informed decision.
Does it matter if the president lies and tells half truths? He is the least prepared person that ever ran for president. Just one opinion.
Ronald Meharry
Mount Vernon
Yard Signs
To the editor:
GAMBIER – What if yard signs were about issues and not candidates? All we get are candidates’ names in bright colors with no indication of what they stand for. It is as though the person matters more than policy. As though an individual or a party is going to save us from whatever that individual or party tells us to be afraid of. We are especially told to fear members of the opposition. "Do not trust Republicans," or "Watch out for Democrats," are phrases chanted across the nation. Yet we rely on people such as doctors, fire fighters and teachers to help us and our families regardless of their political party. There are no Republican doctors when we are in the ER or Democratic fire fighters when our house is burning. What matters is that they do their jobs well and impartially.
I suggest that we start treating our politicians as the public servants they are supposed to be. At the very least we should not let them hide behind party labels but insist that they describe in detail where they stand on important issues such as health care, education, infrastructure and economic reforms. They should tell us why they take those stands and how their positions address our real interests and needs. And here is a thought: In describing their policies, our candidates should not demonize the opposition but concentrate on positive messages of how they will work across party lines to get things done that benefit us all. If candidates honestly lay out their positions, we the electorate are smart enough to compare what we hear and make reasoned judgments. We do that every day in important matters that directly affect us and our families, and we do so without any reference to political parties. When blasted with messages of hate and fear, it is hard to make a reasoned choice and the hatemongers know that.
Sound impossible? Remember that divisive partisanship thrives because we vote for politicians who divide us, who tell us who to despise and so who to fear. If we really want to heal our divisions then we have to elect people who serve all of us first and their party second, if at all. Candidates who spew hatred while sowing division do not deserve our vote.
Edward Schortman
Gambier
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