Like a Prayer
Dear Editor,
With regard to NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, it occurs to me that President Trump has taken the position that kneeling is disrespectful when in fact, throughout history, kneeling has been seen as a sign of reverence and respect.
For example, many people kneel to pray as a way of expressing love, awe, respect, supplication, humility, and a recognition of a power greater than themselves. People pray in times of celebration and in times of desperation. Often they do both at once, giving thanks for having survived the storm while asking that loved ones also be spared.
The national anthem and the flag are not divinity, but they do represent our national soul. They inspire us to be the best that we can be. They remind us of those things about ourselves that we are proud of. And there are many. But this does not mean we are perfect.
The NFL players did not stomp on the flag or boo during the anthem. They merely knelt, or locked arms, in honor of what we are, and in recognition of the fact that much remains to be done.
Maureen Parker
Stand Up
Dear Editor,
Taking a knee is un-American when the national anthem is played. Our American national anthem honors Americans’ fight for freedom. That freedom is emblazoned in our founding document – the Declaration of Independence – which acknowledges the fountain of freedom – God our creator – who established “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,” which reveals “these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Even though some politicians and judges have passed perverted laws and rulings, the goal for which we fight for, and others have sacrificed their lives for, is there – declared – written, for all to see, and to work towards. That fight never ends.
Colin Kaepernick – who has worn a pro-Fidel Castro T-shirt, and socks depicting police as pigs – took a knee when the national anthem was sung, and others have done likewise. Are they ignorant of Fidel Castro’s Cuba with its equality of poverty under communism’s socialism? Cuba has no such thing as freedom of speech, nor has Cuba banned slavery. They torture political dissidents and enslave them. The same is true for other communist countries.
Are Americans completely ignorant of the cruelty and wickedness of how communists treat people? We cannot be ignorant and free; torn apart on our foundation of freedom, filled with disrespect and expect freedom with communism.
E.A. Timm
For the people
Dear Editor,
I make special trips to locations on Thursday to pickup your paper; always enjoy the commentary.
I was surprised to see your disparaging remarks in the Sept. 28 edition concerning the council of states project. Your supposition of Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnell hijacking this forum for “we the people” to combat the lobbyist/big money influence in Washington, DC, hopefully stems from a lack of knowledge about the movement.
The project’s impetus was Mark Levin’s book, The Liberty Amendments, and the goals of a balanced federal budget, term limits and other conservative principles will never be instituted by any Congress or administration.
An article or your comments in a future Rhino Times regarding this movement would be appreciated.
Kent Vernon
Hoffmann helped
Dear Editor,
We contacted Councilmember Nancy Hoffmann regarding a situation that had occurred on a vacant, unbuildable lot abutting our property. She immediately came over to take a look and insisted on walking down a steep ravine to see for herself and take photos.
She quickly reported this to the community development department. Thus began a long, 14-month legal process through the Minimum Housing Commission. Even when city regulations have been ignored, there is a precise legal process required to allow an owner to comply before action is taken.
Nancy stayed in touch, sending us periodic updates as our case moved through the commission, always apologetic that the process could not move faster.
Finally, the offending structure was demolished last month.
We have gotten to know Nancy through this ordeal and understand how important it is to have a City Council representative who cares and responds to citizens.
We are Republicans; Nancy is a Democrat. Yet we both agree there is no place for political labels and ideologies on City Council, which is nonpartisan. Nancy feels that citizens can have a real impact on local government. We agree and Nancy has our support.
Katy and Jim Overstreet
Vote for Davis
Dear Editor,
Cynthia Davis, at-large city councilmember, attended an annual event of a local club that I am a member of a couple of years ago. We had invited elected officials to our event before, but Cynthia Davis was the first elected official to accept our invitation. She came as a representative of the local government, but she left as a friend.
Before this time, I had observed in the news how Cynthia seemed to be fighting an uphill battle in an old boys club. I still believe that. I had written a letter to The High Point Enterprise stating as much. Since then I have had the opportunity to talk to Cynthia Davis on a personal level. I am impressed that she is an honest person who is working for the public with no hidden aspirations of financial gain, no hidden agendas or any axes to grind with anyone. Her original campaign slogan was, “I want to be your voice.” I am totally convinced she believes that.
I have never in all my years endorsed a candidate for any office, but I feel we need to back Ms. Cynthia Davis and vote her back as City Council at large. She speaks for the people and has an enthusiasm for doing what is right by the people of High Point. For her to not return to her current office would be a terrible loss to the people of High Point.
I whole-heartedly endorse Cynthia Davis for City Council at large and urge you to vote for her. Let’s help Cynthia continue to be our voice on City Council. Vote on Oct. 10 and Nov. 7.
Mark McMahan
Costly Council
Dear Editor,
As we move toward this next election for City Council, there is much information that the citizens should have, primarily information about the spending practices of the last 20 years. There is literally no excuse for the abuse that the taxpayers have and will continue to experience under this council.
Have you taken a stroll around the Downtown Greenway lately? No, and it’s unlikely you will because it isn’t finished. But don’t worry, it’s only been 10 years and several million dollars. It will probably be done in another 10.
And then there is the new performing arts center, only about two years in the works but already a nice flat dirt lot. Recent estimates of the final price is somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 million. They’ve already received $25 million in donations from the Tangers, which they contributed as a tax deduction, from their pockets. That’s a bargain at twice the price.
And we have the recently proposed $25 million streetscape for the business district. Everyone seems to forget that we had a streetscape in 1987 that nearly killed most of the small business on the south end of Elm, shutting down the street for over a year, reducing parking in the area and doing away with the bus service. I’m not sure the downtown can suffer another streetscape.
Finally, you’ll be given the opportunity to shell out $30 million to build a new parking deck in the 100 hundred block of South Elm. This will be done so that the Westin Hotel Group can build a hotel on top of it. Why wasn’t this offer made to Roy Carroll?
This kind of crazy spending cannot continue if Greensboro wishes to remain solvent. Again, I recommend individuals for the council that have business experience and realize that the city’s taxes are not a slush fund for their fantasy projects.
We need John Brown as mayor, with Tony Wilkins, James Ingram, Dan Jackson and M.A. Bakie on the City Council, to help set this mess straight. They can’t do it overnight but at least it would be a start. Or you can re-elect Nancy Vaughan and her friends I you enjoy paying taxes that much.
J.W. Forster
Collin Kaepernick, acting on firm moral convictions, protested an epidemic of African American executions by those paid to protect and serve in their communities. Others–primarily African American athletes–knelt with him in a show of unanimity against an existential threat fueled by primitive impulses and irrational contempt for the human other.
Challenging this insidious aspect of cultural consciousness, however, is a perilous endeavor that reverberates throughout American history. It is a tenuous rift in social solidarity that is never conducive to the interference of fools; but fools are known to be circumspect in nature.
So . . . enters Donald Trump–a notoriously amoral paradox of emotional retardation. A stream of insulting invectives dripped from the lips of this geriatric toddler and echoed the inherent nastiness of jingoistic sentiment. And what began as a noble gesture to highlight racial disparity has become an inane diversion of civil religion elevating symbols and subjective mawkishness over concern for human rights.
Somewhere–somehow–the conversation has been changed. And the conversation has not changed because the original intent and the moral imperative from which it extended has changed; but rather, because there is a curious distaste for honest reflection in America. Notwithstanding, flags and anthems–and other such rhetorical flourishes–have papered over the ruthless reality of selective justice and a color conscious society that readily dismisses police brutality against marginalized citizens of America.
But despite the tactical imposition of grossly exaggerated patriotism and melodramatic displays of ancestral fidelity, I believe there are those emotionally invested in abstract symbolism and cosmetic ideals. One could honestly say that: the intensity of this cultural romanticism circumvents any appreciation for the predicament of oppressed groups in a nation of divergent affections. Nevertheless, personal concerns about national symbols deserve respectful consideration–not to be confused with coerced adulation.
So, let’s have a conversation about flags and anthems. Let’s stare, starry eyed, into a saccharine American ideal contingent upon skin color and other such arbitrary conditions. But when the wind settles and the cloth hangs limp around a metal pole . . . when the last chords of the Star Spangled Banner fade like the imagery of sanitized warfare it represents . . . let’s have the original conversation: a conversation about racial injustice and America’s cavalier response to the unjustifiable killing of African Americans by the police.