Racism claim
was false
In a recent letter to the editor (“Biden proves he’s racist, sexist,” Aug. 16), Jean Liepold stated incorrectly that former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, had promised in advance to select a Black woman as his running mate. This is factually incorrect, and thus to say that Biden proved his own racism is nonsense. Biden promised to name a woman, but he never promised she would be Black. He reportedly considered prospects of white, Black, Latina, Thai, and mixed ethnicities, selecting a highly qualified woman, Kamala Harris, who is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants and identifies as Black.
Up until the day of the selection, prominent Black women argued that it was important for him to choose from among their leaders. It hardly constitutes proof of racism, as your headline said, to conduct such an open-minded search. And I think that to openly promise a woman as a running mate, in the 100th anniversary year of women’s suffrage, is a sign not of sexism but of progress.
In my opinion, newspapers should not publish letters that contain lies.
John Cushman
Norwich
Can schools meet and greet,
then retreat?
Although I have two school-age grandchildren in Florida and a son who teaches fifth grade in Olympia, Wash., I have no relatives involved with Upper Valley schools. However, I have read with great interest and sympathy for all concerned the proposed options, recognizing that there is no right or wrong way to approach the problem of educating our children during this pandemic.
But there may be an option that, to the best of my knowledge, has not been discussed and may be particularly appropriate for Upper Valley schools as we have few, if any, known cases of COVID-19 at this point in time — although this will almost certainly change.
It is very difficult to teach remotely children whom you have never met. What if for two to three weeks all students attended school full-time with certain requirements? Requirements could include taking temperatures as each child entered, everyone wearing masks except when eating or speaking (in situations where only one person — the teacher or a student — is speaking), no flesh-to-flesh touching (as a feasible and probably pretty effective alternative to no touching at all) and maintaining distance to the extent possible.
I understand that these measures are by no means risk-free, but in reality, even in the best of times we do not live risk-free lives.
It should be understood that when this period is over, all instruction would be remote except for a limited number of students with special needs, inadequate equipment or other conditions that make online education especially difficult. This compromise, while certainly not perfect, would allow students and teachers to get acquainted at relatively low risk.
Ahead of us looms a season that will be even more difficult to navigate than the previous six months. Would it not be worth some risk to give our children the opportunity to meet their teachers and classmates in person, thus making the return to remote learning more effective? Just a thought.
Cappy Nunlist
Lebanon
The COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing movement for Black lives have demonstrated a clear lesson: Our world needs to listen to the voices of its Black and brown citizens. Another imminent crisis will teach us this lesson: The climate crisis.
The same inequity that makes a Black person in New Hampshire four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana usage as a white person, also makes Black and brown communities more susceptible to environmental injustice. For decades, these communities have lived with refineries and compressors in their backyards, with their cries for help falling on deaf ears. As the climate crisis intensifies, these communities remain on the front lines of suffering. Some New Hampshire residents erroneously believe themselves to be distant from racial and environmental injustice, but now, more than ever, is the time to confront these issues head-on. Andru Volinsky is the gubernatorial candidate that will do so.
Volinsky is clear about the inequities that exist. His proposal of a citizen-informed climate plan takes into account the necessity that those in government listen to those being impacted, not powerful lobbyists or corporations. Unlike his opponent, Volinsky will never take money from the fossil fuel industry and remains unequivocal in his stance against new fossil fuel projects in New Hampshire. He understands the importance of environmental justice and knows that there is no good reason to fund new fossil fuel projects in New Hampshire, or anywhere else.
He is ready to act quickly to avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The goal of making our state carbon neutral by 2030 is not a fantasy. It’s a necessity. We don’t need a governor who rejects climate change science, or one who thinks that having only 50% clean energy by 2030 is satisfactory. The time for incremental action is over and Volinsky knows that. The support he has gathered ranges from the New Hampshire Postal Workers Union to Sen. Bernie Sanders to the New Hampshire Youth Movement. The future of our state rests in your hands. Please join us and vote for Andru Volinsky next month.
ZACHARY SPICER
Hanover
The writer is a member of the Sunrise Movement at Dartmouth College.
Gratitude for a
drive-through vote
I would like to extend a big thank you to the New London town staff and volunteers who made the drive-through absentee ballot day happen last Saturday. With all of the uncertainty around the state of voting in this country, it was inspiring to see the attention and dedication that went into helping my neighbors, many of whom are members of an at-risk population, safely exercise their democratic rights. Congratulations on the drive’s success, and thank you for your service to our community.
Eric Scheuch
New London
I heard Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the news recently discussing whether unemployed people should get less than the old $600 unemployment benefit, or 70% of what they otherwise would get.
We are discussing whether they starve a little, or end up on the street.
I just want to scream at the concept of discussing the worth of a person’s life in any way, but certainly in such parsimonious terms. I cannot believe that such a discussion can be held in this country. Where are our moral leaders? The immorality of this is a half step away from evil.
And where is the moral leadership of this newspaper?
PAUL TIERNEY
Norwich
Letter disrespected service members
In response to John W. Vorder Bruegge’s letter (“Forced Reciting of Pledge undermines First Amendament,” Aug. 14)
I want to thank you for showing such little respect for all the men and woman that have served (past and present) this great country we live in.
For you state that no American soldier has fought for U.S. civilians’ freedom since the Civil War is just wrong.
They may have not fought to get “freedom” but they have fought and died to keep the “freedom” that you/we are so fortunate to have.
Very thankful American Veteran,
Mike Morris
Hartford
Mail isn’t the
president’s
business
The post office is a public service, not a business. Trump is running it into the ground with his cronies on the governing board and one more major donor as the head. All to sabotage mail-in voting in November. A bill that McConnell has refused to bring to the Senate is Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio’s House bill to support the Post Office, passed in February 309 to 106, with 87 Republicans voting for the bill. It would reverse the 2006 law that requires the Post Office to prefund 75 years of retirement health benefits, worth $110 billion. And that’s before Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s removing sorting machines, removing mail dropboxes in retirement homes, stopping overtime to help make up for workers out with COVID-19, requiring first class for mail-in ballots — you can’t make this stuff up!
This month when McConnell called the House bill for COVID relief a mish-mash of stuff put together at the last minute, he neglected to note that the House bill had passed in May. I’m even more excited about getting McConnell out of office than I am of seeing the backside of the Trump family.
Any of you who voted for a businessman in the White House, you got one, the height of corporate greed. Before he was in office, subcontractors who wanted to be paid were met with a ‘Sue me.’ And that’s what we’re seeing with so much litigation just to hold onto our Constitution.
Please vote in November.
Anne Peyton
S. Strafford
A note from
one lucky dog
My name is Charlie. I am 6 years old, about 3 feet tall, and have four legs. I cannot write, but my humans are writing this for me as I have something to say.
One evening recently I ran out of my house and across Route 10 in West Lebanon. When you have four legs and an open door, running is easy. As I was heading back home, I was run over by a car. I don’t remember much, but when I stopped tumbling, I got up and ran.
My humans and their friends looked all over the neighborhood for me. They met people who offered to help look and were worried, not only for me, but for the humans, too. I learned afterward that the man driving behind the car that ran over me went looking for me, too. He also came back several times to see if I and my humans were all right. I found my way home, my humans found me, and we all cried because I was alive.
One of my humans took me to SAVES to have me checked out to make sure I was OK. The nurses and doctors were wonderful and said I was adorable and healthy (considering), and that I would be fine. They are not always able to deliver good news. I was lucky, some are not.
My reason for this letter is to say this: Many people worried — not only about me, but also about my humans. For that I am thankful. But why the human driving the car that ran over me did not stop puzzles me.
I am going to go to sleep tonight, with my humans. I will probably be pretty sore in the morning, but I will rest, knowing that my humans are thankful for the compassion that their newfound friends have shown them. I will also be forever grateful to the doctors and nurses. I will say a prayer tonight, to my higher power, that the driver of the car that ran me over sleeps as well as I do. Woof!
DONALD DOWNES
(for CHARLIE)
West Lebanon
Democrats playing a familiar tune
The Democrats, after expressing a good deal of remorse for their nomination of Hillary Clinton in 2016, have now settled on Joe “Third time’s a charm” Biden, with his seeming inability to distinguish between the figments of his fevered imagination and those of his delusive ideology. Paired with Biden is Kamala Harris, with her pantsuits and weathervane-in-a-whirlwind convictions. Together they comprise the world’s greatest Hillary Clinton cover band.
Anthony Stimson
Lebanon