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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 2020)
letters rest will help defeat him in November and no price is too great to pay. They are blind to the reality that these violent demonstrations have little to do with George Floyd. They are part of a well- organized, well-funded Marxist rebellion against America, as leaders and activists of the movement openly acknowledge. That message may play well in the lib- eral enclaves of Eugene, Portland and Se- attle but as we’ve seen in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Bethel, Ohio and now Springfield, Oregon, small town America isn’t going to stand for it. Kudos to the citizens in those communities! Jerry Ritter Springfield POLICE ARE OUT OF CONTROL On July 29, I witnessed the Black Unity protest march in the Thurston area of Springfield. The state of Oregon is absolutely right in investigating the il- legal actions of the Springfield Police De- partment. Not only did the SPD actually surge the barrier that they themselves had set up, but they knowingly worked in concert with the counter protesters, many of whom were armed, unmasked and openly drinking alcohol. This is not behavior unique to SPD. It is nationwide. We need a national set of credentials for police. That needs to in- clude having the Supreme Court look at the concept of “qualified immunity,” as there are no consequences for illegal be- havior. We also need a national registry of police misconduct. Most of all, we need to curtail the undue influence of racist policies of the police fraternal organi- zations, and the police unions. This can only be done by local and state authori- ties. Until these things are addressed, we can expect more unrest from our BIPOC sisters and brothers. And I will be joining them. James Gibboney Eugene MASK UP, SAVE LIVES Once upon a time in COVID America, there were those who believed that the price of freedom is not wearing a mask and those who expect to reap the bless- ings of freedom must not wear masks. Others just can't be bothered, don't care or believe this is all fake news. It's no worse than the flu, say some. I'm young and invincible is another mind set. Between now and the end of the year we can save 66,000 lives if we choose. We know that some of those deaths will be children, and even asymptomatic chil- dren can suffer long term consequences. Children have suffered almost 339,000 cases by the end of July with over 97,000 cases in the last 2 weeks of July, a 40 per- cent jump. There were 25 child deaths in July alone. COVID is as real and deadly as it gets. Anyone can be an invisible spreader. Ev- eryone, please wear a mask and observe 6 feet of social distance. Christopher and Deb Michaels Eugene THE PRESIDENT WE NEED I just read an article posted on Face- book stating Joe Biden is too far to the right; it urged progressive Democrats to not vote for him. There were several ads as I was reading it urging support for Donald Trump. I did a media bias fact check, but nothing was found — suspi- cious. I ask all citizens for justice, equal- ity and a healthy planet to vote for Biden in November. We can work with Biden and pressure him to do the right thing. The Republi- cans — and Russians — want to divide us up so Trump gets another four years of insanity, racism, eroding our democracy, environmental destruction, tax cuts for the wealthy, deaths from mishandling the pandemic and denying science. I believe this is the most important election in the history of our country as time is running out and the climate cri- sis will be impossible to mitigate. The pandemic is a walk in the park compared to runaway global warming. Get out the vote, y'all. Pam Driscoll Dexter NATIONS IN GLASS HOUSES OK, I have Chinese friends. I am an egg- man: yellow (Asian) inside, white (Irish/ French) outside. Spend time in the Middle Kingdom and you are gone to another world, the oldest continuous culture on earth. My suggestion is to compare what China does to the Muslim minority with what America does to Catholic Latinos. I just do not find much difference. As a 70-year-old combat vet, I certain- ly wish I could be proud of the country I was born in. More and more I am embar- rassed by America's behavior towards the rest of humanity. Ed Reynolds Dexter Letters Policy: We welcome letters on all topics and will print as many as space allows, with priority given to timely local issues. Please limit length to 250 words and include your address and phone number for our files. Email to letters@ eugeneweekly.com, fax to 484-4044 or mail to 1251 Lincoln, Eugene 97401. Local Vocal and VIEWPOINT BY GARY HOUSER Protest Violence Enables Trump LET’S NOT GIVE THE PRESIDENT FOUR MORE YEARS IN OFFICE ''Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King Jr. ''An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.'' — Mohandas Gandhi I n this past week, we have seen many in the nation honor the passing of Congressman John Lewis — one of the great leaders of the civil rights movement. In his autobiography, he stated that Martin Luther King was “the person who, more than any other, continued to influence my life, who made me who I was.” Both were beacons of light on the tremendous power of nonviolent resistance and its ability to create social change. I am old enough to have marched with King and yet young enough to be actively taking part in the protests following the murder of George Floyd. It has been heartening to see the number of people willing to speak up and be counted. At the same time, it has been disheartening to see some people dishonor the memory of such civil rights leaders by resorting to violence. Much inspiration for King was provided by the nonviolent campaigns of Mohandas Gandhi. Many who advocate violence believe that the ends justify the means. 4 A U G U S T 1 3 , 2 0 2 0 Gandhi addressed this issue directly: “There is no wall of separation between means and end.... The means may be likened to a seed, the end to a tree, and there is the same inviolable connection between the means and the end as there is between the seed and the tree.” His point is that once violence has been legitimized, a pattern has been set in motion in which violence continues to be legitimized over and over again. How many times have we seen this borne out by the annals of history? Gandhi and King taught that the only way to break this vicious and endless cycle is to not allow violence to corrupt the process of change in the first place. But there is another response to the “ends justify the means” claim that is immediately and supremely relevant. Donald Trump is a classic demagogue who plays on people’s fears. The violence being employed in Portland is providing the perfect imagery which Trump will manipulate in TV ads to stir up his base of not only voters but also financial support. These ads will not be used on the West Coast but rather in the absolutely critical swing states that won the election for him in 2016. From The Atlantic: “Now that it has been deliberately escalated, the violence will provide pictures, footage, video clips, and other material for Trump’s media supporters, and eventually for his campaign advertisements.” They will show “uniformed troops pushing back ... restoring order with a strong hand. And it will use the kind of language that appeals to that part of the population that prizes safety over all else.” When lasers are aimed at the eyes of officers and rocks are thrown, these are deliberate efforts to maim human beings. Even if anarchists wish to debate the ethical stance of nonviolence, there is a separate and totally legitimate question which begs to be asked. If you see Trump as the epitome of the greed and capitalism you say you adamantly oppose, why on Earth are you engaging in the very activity that can prop up his campaign and give him a chance to still win the moderate votes that carried his victory in 2016 and are quite capable of doing so again? On the ultimate issue of survival of life on Earth, there are no margins to absorb setbacks. Four years of Trump wiping out efforts to prevent climate catastrophe have placed our world on the very edge of the point of no return. Four additional years will place us on the path to hothouse Earth when unstoppable heating bakes our life support systems and eventually turns Earth into a hellish wasteland. Why are you giving support to putting him in office another four years? Gary “Spruce”' Houser has been involved in social change movements for four decades and is founder of the Point of No Return Media Project, which produces videos on climate distributed to news outlets for bringing science out of the abstract and for deepening urgency. E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M
