August 18, 2021
Page 9
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O PINION
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Ernest J. Hill, Jr. Agent
The Right to Vote is Sacred
Save democracy,
pass ‘For the
People Act’
l oretta s mith
Time is running out: I
urge Congress to pass Sen-
ator Merkley’s S. 1, For
the People Act 2021, before the
upcoming August recess.
The right to vote is sacred. The
fundamental right of voter access
for all Americans was made pos-
sible by the Voting Rights Act of
1965, an historic step forward
during the Johnson administration
by
55 years ago. Black Americans
had to fight, kick, scream, and die
to get the same voting
rights as white Americans
all while concurrently
fighting for equity in edu-
cation, employment, and
healthcare.
Oregon itself is in-
famous for egregious
treatment towards its Black res-
idents, including the 1844 Black
Exclusion Act and its “Lash Law”
provision, prohibiting Black indi-
viduals, be they free or enslaved,
from entering the territory and re-
quiring the former enslaved who
settled here to leave. Those who
did not were flogged “not less
than 20 stripes and no more than
39 stripes every six months until
they left.”
While we’ve made great strides
on the path towards justice for all,
we still have a lot of work to do
to fulfill the ideals of our country’s
founding.
Our democracy is in grave dan-
ger. Before our eyes, there is an
all-out assault on voting rights in
this country as state legislatures
from coast to coast try to outdo
one another in a game of who can
restrict the most voters, with com-
C ontinued on P age 11
The Vaccine, the Mask, and Our Children
J ohn e. w arren
First let us say the
vaccine saves lives.
The life of the per-
son vaccinated and
the lives of those they
come in contact with.
The low deaths, if not no deaths,
of those vaccinated should be
proof for the doubters.
Second, masks save lives as
evidenced by the statistical non
spread among those wearing
masks covering their mouth and
nose. This is a scientific fact well
documented. The combination of
vaccines and masks save lives.
The virus is not political, only
its victims. This brings us to the
issue of our children. All our
children are victims without our
intervention. We cannot give
them a vaccine, but we can give
them masks and we know the
masks work against the virus.
Question: Why put the chil-
by
dren at risk with our own
personal issues? If the
masks work and children
are given the opportunity
to understand why it’s nec-
essary, then we save little
lives and that’s more im-
portant than party politics over
the virus.
Until the vaccine is approved
for children, masks should be a re-
quirement and the priority should
be saving the lives of our children
as well as ourselves.
Finally, all elements of govern-
ment, federal, state, county and
local as well as businesses should
require the vaccine and those who
object have a right to file lawsuits
to sell the issue.
The lives of our children are
more important than litigation.
Let’s take the vaccine, wear the
masks and live. Too many lives
have already been lost due to
foolishness over vaccines and
masks. Let’s get real serious
about the vaccine, the masks,
and our children.
John E. Warren is publisher of
the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint
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Fax 503 286 1146
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