OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 24, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
OUR VIEW
New library
the heart of
our community
I
t indicates great things about Astoria and its leadership
team that the future of our library was a key discussion item
during the C ity C ouncil’s day long planning session Jan. 13.
Although some will note it has taken an inordinate amount of
time to establish a path forward for this important community
institution, it is better to be deliberate and be strategic than to act
in haste when it comes to multi decade investments. In this sense,
delays forced by the 2008 recession and its aftermath may result
in a more sustainable library as we advance into this century.
After much back and forth over the years, the council, mayor
and residents appear largely united in keeping the library at its
current location, and keeping overall expenditures within the
bounds allowed by existing resources and what a volunteer
group can raise. The shining example of the Liberty Theater res-
toration tells us this community is capable of impressive fund-
raising feats for appealing goals.
We have in the past supported earlier plans to build a new
library on part of Heritage Square. But a library, it should
be needless to say, is far more than the building it occupies.
Nowadays, it’s more, even, than the physical collection of books
and other publications it houses. For many residents, however,
doing something meaningful about the current rather sad-look-
ing structure is a natural top priority. At the most basic level,
architectural tastes change. Astoria Library’s building is not what
anyone would choose today. Within our fi nancial constraints, it
will be fascinating to witness how a modern designer can re pur-
pose the existing structure and end up with something we can all
regard with pride.
A functional, inviting, user-
The heart of
friendly space must dovetail with
our aspirations for what will hap-
the matter is
pen inside. As we noted three
developing
years ago during an earlier itera-
tion of this debate, when it comes
a library
to public libraries, perhaps the big-
that is truly
gest mistake we can make is think-
capable of
ing they are mostly about printed
words.
becoming
Just as the success or failure
the heart
of a novel can be determined by
the force and effectiveness of its
of the
opening lines, Astoria’s foray into
community.
designing a new library depends
in large part on how ambitious and
imaginative we are. A city as public spirited as ours will surely
manage to upgrade its aging library with something more vital.
But that isn’t really the key issue. The heart of the matter is
developing a library that is truly capable of becoming the heart
of the community.
“The library of the 21st century is a community workshop, a
hub fi lled with the tools of the knowledge economy … Instead
of a warehouse of information, libraries need tools for use by the
commons — a Netfl ix of things,” is an inspiration we quoted in
2014, which should remain a guiding principle today.
Donations — and future library patrons — will be attracted
by a smart and exciting vision of a new library as a kind of lab-
oratory for invention and personal engagement with the wider
world. It can and must refl ect Astoria as it is today — an increas-
ingly dynamic and interesting place that is a magnet for residents
and investments from throughout our region.
This all is an intriguing prospect, one which deserves our
time, energy, money and ideas.
Besides the library, it’s also worth mentioning our enthusias-
tic interest in all the other goals discussed by the C ity C ouncil.
Affordable housing, disaster resiliency, better downtown parking
and pedestrian safety all are important topics deserving of ongo-
ing attention. We will have more to say about them in the future.
LETTERS WELCOME
Letters should be exclusive to
The Daily Astorian.
Letters should be fewer than
350 words and must include the
writer’s name, address and phone
numbers. You will be contacted
to confi rm authorship.
All letters are subject to edit-
ing for space, grammar and, on
occasion, factual accuracy. Only
two letters per writer are printed
each month.
Letters written in response to
other letter writers should address
the issue at hand and, rather than
mentioning the writer by name,
should refer to the headline and
date the letter was published.
Discourse should be civil and
people should be referred to in a
respectful manner.
Submissions may be sent in
any of these ways:
E-mail to editor@dailyasto-
rian.com; online at www.dailyas-
torian.com; delivered to the Asto-
rian offi ces at 949 Exchange St.
and 1555 N. Roosevelt in Seaside
or by mail to Letters to the Editor,
P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103.
WE ARE DISSIDENTS;
WE ARE LEGION
Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune
Demonstrators wait for the Women’s March on Washington, D.C., to begin Saturday on the National Mall.
By CHARLES BLOW
New York Times News Service
O
n Friday, Donald Trump, the
embodiment, instrument and
provocateur of American ani-
mus, was installed — and I use that
word with purpose
and displeasure —
as America’s 45th
president. He deliv-
ered a particularly
inauspicious speech
to a seemingly
sparse crowd, presenting a vision
for America that would best be
described as aggressive atavism, a
retrograde positioning of policy that
threatens to drag the country back to
a time of division and fear and hostil-
ity, when some stand in the light by
casting others into darkness.
The speech was replete with
phrases never before uttered in an
Inaugural Address. Bleed, carnage,
depletion and disrepair. Ripped,
rusted and stolen. Tombstones,
trapped and windswept. Urban,
sad and Islamic. It felt at times as
though he were reading aloud from a
post-apocalyptic movie script.
Indeed, some have pointed out
that portions of the speech sounded
eerily familiar to one delivered by
the movie villain Bane in the Batman
movie “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Bane, too, promises: “We take
Gotham from the corrupt! The rich!
The oppressors of generations who
have kept you down with myths of
opportunity, and we give it back to
you, the people,” even as he plunges
the fi ctitious city into chaos.
There were few overtures to his
opponents, let alone his enemies,
little attempt to seek unity and amity.
The Dean of Discord made clear
his purpose and his plan: It is not to
bring America together but to rip it
asunder.
The Wall Street Journal reported
that the speech was partly written by
Steve Bannon, Trump’s white-na-
tionalist chief strategist and senior
counselor. At one point in the speech,
Trump delivered the bewildering
line: “When you open your heart to
patriotism, there is no room for prej-
udice.” Patriotism does not drive out
prejudice; to the contrary, it can actu-
ally enshrine it. No one was more
patriotic than our founding fathers,
and yet most of the prominent found-
ing fathers were slave owners.
Trump set forth a portentous
proposition Friday. Saturday’s
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian
People gathered in Portland’s
Tom McCall Waterfront Park and
marched through downtown Sat-
urday in local support for the
Women’s March on Washington,
D.C., following the election of
Donald Trump.
It is possible
that Trump has
reactivated
something
President
Barack Obama
couldn’t
maintain, and
Hillary Clinton
couldn’t fully
tap into.
Women’s Marches across the country
and around the world answered with
a thundering roar.
The marches, whose participants
vastly outnumbered inauguration
attendees, offered a stinging rebuke
to the election of a man who threat-
ens women’s rights and boasts of
grabbing women’s genitalia.
And the marches, which included
quite a few men and boys as well,
also represented more than that.
They were a rebuke of bigotry and a
call for equality and inclusion. They
demonstrated the awesome power
of individual outrage joined to col-
lective action. And it was a message
to America that the majority did not
support this president or his plans
and will not simply tuck tail and
cower in the face of the threat. This
was an uprising; this was a fi ghting
back. This was a resistance.
Members of Congress, laboring
under the delusion that they operate
with a mandate and feeling compelled
to rubber-stamp Trump’s predilec-
tions, should heed well the message
those marches sent Saturday: You are
on notice. America is ticked off.
There has been much
hand-wringing and navel gazing
since the election about how liberal-
ism was blind to a rising and hidden
populism, about how identity politics
were liberals’ fatal fl aw, about how
Democrats needed to attract voters
who were willing to ignore Trump’s
racial, ethnic and religious bigotry,
his misogyny, and his xenophobia.
I call bunk on all of that.
I have given quite a few speeches
since the election and inevitably
some variation of this “reaching
out” issue is raised in the form of a
question, and my answer is always
the same: The Enlightenment must
never bow to the Inquisition.
Recognizing and even celebrating
individual identity groups doesn’t
make America weaker; it makes
America stronger. Acknowledging
that identity groups have not always
been — and indeed, continue not to
be — treated equally in this country
should not be a cause for agitation,
but a call to action. Parity is not born
of forced erasure but rather respectful
subsumption.
Janelle Monáe, singer and star
of the acclaimed fi lm “Hidden
Figures,” put it this way at the march
in Washington, D.C.: “Continue
to embrace the things that make
you unique, even if it makes others
uncomfortable. You are enough.
And whenever you’re feeling doubt,
whenever you want to give up, you
must always remember to choose
freedom over fear.”
If my difference frightens you,
you have a problem, not me. If my
discussion of my pain makes you ill
at ease, you have a problem, not me.
If you feel that the excavation of my
history presages the burial of yours,
then you have a problem, not me.
It is possible that Trump has
reactivated something President
Barack Obama couldn’t maintain,
and Hillary Clinton couldn’t fully
tap into: A unifi ed, mission-driven
left that puts bodies into the streets.
The women’s marches sent a clear
signal: Your comfort will not be built
on our constriction. We are America.
We are loud, “nasty” and fed up. We
are motivated dissidents and we are
legion.