Letters for July 22, 2022
Sue Lani Madsen’s July 14 column
Sue Lani Madsen suggests that critical race theory runs counter to public schools’ statutory obligation “to impress on the minds of their pupils the principles of morality, truth, justice, temperance, humanity and patriotism.”
In so many ways that’s pure crap.
Let’s be honest with ourselves and our children. American racism is a malignancy which for centuries was the mortal enemy of most of those principles. For 250 years America upheld the morality of slavery and Blacks as subhuman – a horrible indignity that was accommodated by our Constitution. The unvarnished truth is that the end of slavery was followed with 75 years of Jim Crow oppressions and rationalized by eugenics. During this period the KKK raged unrestrained through the South lynching over 4,400 victims. That’s one “George Floyd” murder every week for 75 years. There was no justice for those crimes.
Even after the civil rights movement, justice for Blacks was rare with both overt and systemic racism. The discrimination was deeply embedded: suppression of voting rights, redlining, bank loan rejections, restriction of public funding to Black communities. The list of injustices is long. Among the worst – in the 1950s and 1960s thousands of Black farmers got squeezed into bankruptcy after being denied relief subsidies granted to whites who later bought millions of acres of forfeited farmlands at public auctions as disenfranchised Blacks fled north.
It’s not a story of glorious American humanity. But an honest reckoning suggests it’s an instructive story that fully complies with the statute Madsen cites.
Steve McNutt
Spokane
Prohibition
We cannot ban alcohol, tobacco or guns but somehow we can ban abortion. Maybe we should just ban sexual intercourse altogether and be done with it. After all, there is no specific constitutional right to it. We could at least make everyone get a license for it.
Danny Ebbighausen
Spokane
Supertense Court
Which body just handed down the abortion ruling overturning 50 years of U.S. precedent?
Why it was our “Supertense Court.”
We aspire to law. But, all we can muster is politics. Conservatives hate big government. So, now they make it small enough to fit in the uterus.
Jim Kane
Reardan
The lowest court in the land
Now that the Supreme Court has become the lowest court in the land, with a clan of religious ideologues that have squandered the meaning and purpose of the Supreme Court, it is time for Congress to assume the power and authority we have bestowed upon it.
To “believe” that a law will stop, thwart or halt a woman’s right to her now body and her own self-determination is ludicrous and sends woman back into unsafe health care, fear and health hazards that will not only effect her, but also her family and her community.
As the “former guy” offered his support to Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, who in her remarks, apparently accidentally, called the end of Roe a “victory for white life.” The message and meaning are clear!
When woman, children and families are given housing, food, clothing and health care the “RIGHT” may have a higher ground from which to pulpit their slanted ideologies.
Until then vote the brothel out.
Elizabeth Cobbs
Spokane
Vote Michaela Kelso
The election this year offers voters in the 6th Legislative District an opportunity to select a fine person to represent them in Olympia. Her name is Michaela Kelso, and she is an alternative to Jenny Graham. I have known and worked with Michaela, and she is a person of great energy, dedication and integrity. As past treasurer of a sizable organization, she paid great attention to detail, insisted on correct records, and didn’t try to cut any corners. She has high standards for both herself and co-workers, and they know her expectations. She studies up on laws, and can be relied on for information. These are all excellent qualities to bring to the Washington State Legislature as a co-worker with others.
The primary election this year on Aug. 2, and the general election Nov. 8, are very important. Making informed choices is vital in order to help our country. Please register, if you haven’t; remember to vote, and consider voting for Michaela Kelso!
Roz Luther
Spokane
Yates for commissioner in District 5
Over the course of the pandemic, the number of people reporting behavioral health concerns locally increased while Spokane County’s spending on behavioral health per capita plummeted. Fentanyl-related deaths skyrocketed. Youth mental health declined with increased rates of depression, anxiety, psychosis-like experiences and suicidal behaviors. Substance use continues to broadly impact the health of our community. Behavioral health concerns rarely exist in isolation, particularly without proper intervention. People with substance use disorders and mental illnesses have increased physical health problems, high mortality rates, increased rates of homelessness and are disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system.
Current county leadership has failed to adequately ensure that critical, effective behavioral health interventions are funded, and that the behavioral health workforce is appropriately supported. In fact, the county hasn’t even identified behavioral health as a priority investment for the millions of available American Rescue Plan dollars. Innovative and effective interventions like recovery support and early interventions for young people with psychosis could be expanded with effective County leadership.
We are mental health clinicians and researchers with over 40 years of collective experience improving behavioral health and addiction treatment. We’re supporting Maggie Yates for county commissioner in District 5 because she understands that behavioral health is a critical component of public health and community resilience, resulting from her over a decade’s worth of experience working on issues related to behavioral health in the criminal legal system.
Liat Kriegel, Ph.D., MSW
Michael McDonell, Ph.D.
Oladunni Oluwoye, Ph.D.
Spokane