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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2018)
4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2018 editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher Founded in 1873 JIM VAN NOSTRAND Editor JEREMY FELDMAN Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production Manager CARL EARL Systems Manager OUR VIEW Bundys belong in federal prison for armed standoffs D ismissal of federal criminal charges against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy will almost certainly result in more trouble. How well or poorly it ends will depend on whether the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. attor- neys manage to learn from the shellacking they just received. Most Americans have little sympathy for Bundy, his family and supporters. He might like to think of himself as a folk hero, but his hidebound refusal to abide by longstanding cattle-grazing rules placed innocent lives in danger, degraded public lands around his ranch and made a mockery of the law. As one letter writer observed about the armed occupation of the Malheur the trial outcome, “I kind of thought National Wildlife Refuge, these pros- things were pretty good in the old days ecutors have shown they are the gang when people were honest and did not that can’t shoot straight. pull high-powered weapons on law This is most unfortunate. enforcement agents. Now they even get Emboldened by their twin victories, away with it.” not only the Bundys but others who The Bundys clearly do not exist in share their views will be emboldened. the same U.S. West as the one por- It is easily possible to imagine sce- trayed on the TV narios in which oth- Cartwright family’s ers will see fit to treat Ponderosa. Its manly land that belongs to all The Bundys will men supported law and Americans as private mess up again. order. By wantonly property, and then The next time claiming public land forcefully resist when is theirs to take, in the the law comes to call. should be the last fictional universe of Such conflicts cre- time, with federal “Bonanza” the Bundys ate great potential for would only be good injuries and deaths, prison being their for an episode or two like that of LaVoy next bunkhouse. illustrating the many Finicum during the annoying downsides of Malheur standoff. having lousy neighbors. It doesn’t take a talented investiga- tor to uncover plenty of resentment in However, even annoying anti-gov- the interior West toward the Bureau ernment bumpkins have a valid right of Land Management. Although it has to expect prosecutors to obey the rules many dedicated and hard-working of evidence. Judge Gloria Navarro was employees, its direction is whipsawed right to decide that by withholding evi- by political whims. It often is in the dence useful to the defense, prosecu- automatically unpopular role of mall tors bungled their case beyond pos- cop or playground attendant as western- sibility of repair. It was so bad, the ers recreate and go about their business judge in effect awarded the game to out in our nation’s wide-open spaces. the Bundys by default. This outcome The key word is “our.” The lands that should be a career-ending mistake for the Bundys and others covet belong to whomever was responsible in the U.S. all of us, and are not to be fenced off or Justice Department. Coupled with overgrazed. We citizens care less about the earlier court loss in Oregon for John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal Flanked by armed supporters, rancher Cliven Bundy speaks in 2014 at a protest camp near Bunkerville, Nev. Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal Ryan Bundy, son of rancher Cliven Bundy, listens to his father speak two days after federal charges were dismissed against both of them in Las Vegas. the BLM’s popularity than about its continuing ability to do its job. With erratic amateurs currently con- trolling the main levers of government power, it is up to the everyday pro- fessionals of the BLM and the Justice Department to get up in the mornings, and calmly go about their jobs in even- handed and uninflammatory ways. They must figure out smarter strategies for getting along with skeptics while successfully discouraging and pun- ishing lawbreakers. They must be the grownups in the room, and not stoop to shortcuts or prosecutorial skulduggery. The Bundys will mess up again. The next time should be the last time, with federal prison being their next bunkhouse. GUEST COLUMN Dr. King, LBJ gave us hope — Trump gives us hate C ultural values are on display in every country, and Americans might think we come off well in the cultural lens. But viewed from most other countries, our rate of gun mayhem, killings and suicides is glaring. The Times of India commented on the latest American gun massacre during a recent visit by my wife and I to that country. And now the rest of the world is watching our president return us to the ugly age of Jim Crow bigotry, with his comment about “shithole” countries, which are Latino and black. Part of what President Donald Trump had to say — about his ambition to bring Norwegians here — was laughable. Why would Norwegians want to emigrate? They have a better Steve health care system, a stable Forrester economy and they lack a gun culture. The president’s remarks are especially poignant during this week, as we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There are many ways of describing Dr. King’s accomplishment. One is that he liberated Southerners from the debilitating and corroding burden of institu- tionalized racism. There is a Biblical aspect to that liberation. Also there is a psychological side. Living without hate is healthier than carrying it around with you. The important historical comparison is between Trump and President Lyndon Johnson. The most interesting historical characters are those who move beyond the bounds of the culture that spawned them. When Johnson in December 1963 told a Joint Session of Congress that he wanted a Civil Rights Bill, he rose above being a member of the Southern Bloc of Congress, in which he had toed the line on civil rights. He closed that speech with a line borrowed from the civil rights movement. “We shall overcome,” he said. also about women, who gained new opportu- nities under Title 9 of that statute. The truth is that American blacks will not return to servility, nor will women become passive, nor will gays return to the closet. Those trains have been out of the station and down the tracks for a long time. There is a reason why the memory of Dr. King matters and why Lyndon Johnson mat- tered. They rose above the world into which they were born. Trump remains a prisoner of his childhood. Trump only knows how to feed our nation’s corrosive, worst, base instincts. The man may be our president, but he has ignored the words of his own inaugural address, in which he promised to be a president for all Americans. History will not judge him kindly for that. A startling discovery overseas Associated Press President Lyndon B. Johnson, right, talks with civil rights leaders Jan. 18, 1964. The black leaders, from left, are, Roy Wilkins, executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); James Farmer, national director of the Committee on Racial Equality; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and Whitney Young, executive director of the Urban League. The most interesting historical characters are those who move beyond the bounds of the culture that spawned them. Johnson found the vision and courage to move beyond the world of Jim Crow politics in which he had risen. Johnson said that any time a Southern politician was threatened, he would utter the refrain: “Nigrah, nigrah, nigrah.” As the Oregon State University political scientist Bill Lunch learned through research some 30 years ago, there is among a branch of Republicans a desire to turn the clock back on the Civil Rights Act, not just about blacks but During our November travels in India, we observed an aspect of rural culture — outdoor defecation. While driving in the darkness of early morning, we observed women standing by the side of the road, looking away from the headlights. They carried pots. When we asked our daughter’s mother-in- law, Zarine Rana, she explained this cultural value among many Indians. The women were going to the fields to relieve themselves. And she directed us to a Bollywood movie, “Toilet: A Love Story” — a dramatic tale about a bride who demands that her husband provide an indoor toilet in their multi-genera- tional family home. What ensues is nothing less than a com- munity movement among the rural village’s women. The outcome is an indoor toilet. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made eradication of outdoor defecation a national campaign. The U.S. Agency for International Development is assisting. Steve Forrester, the former editor and pub- lisher of The Daily Astorian, is the president and CEO of EO Media Group.
