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:
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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
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1 3 ,
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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