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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, ApRIl 1, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
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SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
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production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Fight bigotry and hatred
T
he hatefulness and plundering
that accompanied the intern-
ment of Japanese Ameri-
cans 80 years ago is our region’s most
notorious racist episode in recent
times, though bias against Native
Americans and historical pogroms
directed at Chinese immigrants also
stain our past.
It must be said Japanese families
were supported by many friends and
supporters in our community, people
who welcomed them back as World
War II paranoia faded. But there
can be no sugarcoating of the ways
in which property such as Willapa
oysterbeds and family homes were
unscrupulously seized with little or
minimal compensation. Nor should
we minimize the ways in which our
residents of Japanese descent faced
slurs and countless other indignities.
Although we all like to think our
cozy and welcoming communities are
too evolved for there to be much rac-
ism nowadays, such is not the case.
Like the nation as a whole, there
is an unpleasant and uncomfortable
undercurrent of prejudice in these
otherwise admirable Pacific Coast
counties. This was loudly evident
during the crackdown starting in 2016
on Hispanic residents, who faced a
veritable blowtorch of racist senti-
ment, almost irrespective of immi-
gration status. Again, to be sure, there
were many white people who did
what they could to bolster and defend
neighbors from the destructive pre-
dations of unprincipled U.S. Immi-
gration and Customs Enforcement
agents and those who abetted them.
Most of us are never likely to per-
sonally encounter racism. These rural
counties have overwhelmingly white
populations. Although there is a sense
Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo
Kara Chu holds a pair of heart balloons at a rally to raise awareness of anti-Asian violence
outside the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles in March.
soul-sucking, far more
that diversity is increas-
AS AlWAyS,
ing as urban residents
so than we in the white
ON
A
‘HEARTS
discover they can
majority will ever be
ANd MINdS’
remotely work wher-
able to imagine.
ever they choose, it’s
It is of course possi-
lEVEl, IT
ble to make too much
still easily conceiv-
IS up TO
able that a resident of
of anything, and there
EACH
GOOd
Long Beach, Gearhart
are those who have
and most other local
at least some justifi-
pERSON TO
towns can drive down
STANd up FOR cation in harrumph-
ing about the ways in
the street and see no
THOSE
WHO
which big-city news
one of a different color.
NEEd OuR
media overtrum-
However, ignorance
pet each new social
of the presence of rac-
HElp. SpEAK
ism isn’t proof of its
cause and controversy.
OuT WHEN
nonexistence.
Black Lives Matter
WE SEE OR
Speak to local peo-
and, now, demonstra-
ple of Asian, Hispanic
HEAR RACIAl tions by Asian Ameri-
cans and Pacific Island-
and African descent
BIGOTRy.
ers attract not only the
and — if they are
sincerely aggrieved
good enough friends
but also some who are merely along
— they will share accounts of when
for the fun of making noise, tagging
they found hateful messages written
buildings and breaking windows. It’s
in windshield dust, comforted tear-
ful children after locker-room teas-
also true that the kinds of good people
ing, had to ignore insults muttered
most likely to read editorials like this
on sidewalks and store aisles and a
one are least likely to need the kinds
dozen other forms of overt preju-
of advice being offered.
dice. This all must be so wearing and
However, we all fail when we
allow others to mete out racist hatred
without resistance or comment. It is
shameful to allow bullies to get their
way — whether on the playground, in
everyday grownup life, or in the halls
of Congress.
Whether they were murdered
because they were Asian or because
they were women working in an
industry that offended one warped
man, the victims killed in Atlanta
in March are representative of gen-
erations of a marginalized, too-of-
ten despised immigrant group in our
country. These murders were just
the most recent factor in decades of
slowly increasing anger inside a sim-
mering pressure cooker. There’s only
so much men and women can take.
So what can good Americans do
about any of this? Is it worth tak-
ing one more swing at keeping fire-
arms out of the hands of volatile
young fanatics, at least until they
have a chance to cool down? Can
we strengthen political backbones
in Congress to insist on that, or on
requiring comprehensive tracking of
hate crimes at every governmental
level? Is there more that schools can
do to help young people overcome
the toxic legacy of biases they may
absorb at home?
As always, on a “hearts and
minds” level, it is up to each good
person to stand up for those who need
our help. Speak out when we see
or hear racial bigotry. Reach out to
members of racial and ethnic minori-
ties in our communities. Patronize
their businesses when it makes sense
to do so. And, at a minimum, treat
others the way you want to be treated
yourself.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Informed consent
T
wo facts you may want to consider
about the COVID-19 vaccines: The
vaccines have not been proven to stop
transmission of the virus; and, as with all
vaccines, COVID-19 vaccine manufactur-
ers are exempt from liability, should you
or a loved one be injured or killed by these
experimental new vaccines.
While some COVID-19 vaccines are
showing a 95% success rate at stopping
the disease and symptoms, there is no data
available from the COVID-19 safety trials
as to the vaccines’ capacity to stop trans-
mission of the infection.
World health officials are on record stat-
ing this, as it is simply the truth about the
data we have thus far. We do not know
if this vaccine will create herd immu-
nity — to imply that it would is spreading
misinformation.
In 1986, Congress passed the National
Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which made
all vaccine manufacturers, and the doctors
who provide them, exempt from all litiga-
tion regarding vaccines, and those who are
injured or killed by them.
Further, under the Public Readiness and
Emergency Preparedness Act, COVID-
19 vaccines are not eligible under the
National Vaccine Injury Compensation Pro-
gram. People can apply for help through
the Countermeasures Injury Compensation
Program, but the program has a history of
rejecting many claims.
Essentially, if you’re injured by a
COVID-19 vaccine, you’re on your own.
I am bringing this to the awareness of
my friends and neighbors because informed
consent is the core of medicine in a free
society. Without informed consent, i.e.
health freedom, we may soon wake up to
find ourselves living under medical tyranny.
JOHNNY SHUE
Seaside
Two kinds
R
eferencing Rick Bowers’ letter of
March 6, there are two kinds of home-
lessness — economic and chronic.
Economic homelessness can be solved
by additional housing stock, but that hous-
ing stock has to be affordable. When hous-
ing is scarce, as it is in Astoria, affordable
housing can only be created by changes
in zoning that permit greater density, and
economic incentives to builders to charge
affordable rents.
Affordable is a technical term defined by
the federal government, but it often means
housing at below-market rates. A number of
at-market multiunit apartment complexes
have been developed recently in both Asto-
ria and Warrenton, but all of the units are
priced beyond affordable.
The recent study done by the Clatsop
County commission made it clear that the
only practical locations for development
of affordable housing are in the Warrenton
area, but zoning changes and builder incen-
tives are required to get that housing built.
Chronic homelessness is a more com-
plicated issue than economic homeless-
ness. Each individual who is chronically
homeless requires a solution built around
that person’s unique circumstances. Most
often, mental health issues are the primary
source of an individual’s chronic homeless-
ness. Occasionally, chronic homelessness is
simply a person’s rational choice, but that
is rare.
In Astoria, there is a general consen-
sus among those most actively involved in
addressing chronic homelessness that the
most effective first step for this community
is a drop-in center, where trust can be built
and basic services and supplies provided.
Creating that drop-in center is where our
efforts should be focused.
BARRY L. PLOTKIN
Astoria
Missed opporunity
E
dward Stratton missed the opportu-
nity to practice responsible journalism
while reporting on an example of coopera-
tion among neighbors to resolve a work-at-
home issue.
This effort was recognized by Asto-
ria City Council members as a signifi-
cant achievement in neighborhood prob-
lem-solving. Instead, Stratton chose to
focus on fomenting public scorn toward
residents who worked through the public
process to address issues of concern.
In his latest article on a work-from-
home auto-detailing proposal (The Asto-
rian, March 18), Stratton should have
focused on the agreement by neighbors to
support the business operation as proposed
by Will Gutierrez.
Instead, Stratton highlighted an unsub-
stantiated claim that the 67-year-old Ste-
phen Fulton was intimidating the recent
Coast Guardsman, a claim that was not
relevant to the agreement reached by the
parties.
A chance was missed here to report on
a success story. Instead, Stratton wandered
off into playing up some imagined grudge
match.
Readers are entitled the truth, and maybe
some fairness from reporters, not a specula-
tive advocacy piece.
SARA ORR
Seattle