Hanson column does disservice
My name is Francis Renee Mullins. I am the oldest daughter of the late Mr. James Byrd Jr. My father's death was not just a crime against a 49-year-old African-American who was disabled, but a crime against all humanity. Mr. Hanson's article was hateful and wrong. My father and all of America deserve better than the racism that flowed throughout Hanson's article. I have learned from living 28 years that it takes more energy to hate than to love. As a nation we must renounce violence and embrace the teachings of nonviolence. My father's untimely death lets me know that despite decades of laws, too many people have too little respect for the rights of others whose only crime is being different. My father's legacy must live on but hate crimes must die.
Macy Hanson: you should be ashamed of yourself. John Kerry is a good man, and he points out the continuing struggle of what it's like to live black in America. There is nothing wrong with that or the use of Jim Crow laws in a speech. It is wrong, though, for President Bush to [continue] to divide America with his policies and his actions. It was George Bush who nominated a cross-burner to the U.S. courts on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's birthday. It was George Bush who tried to undo affirmative action at Michigan State while leaving intact white affirmative action. Macy Hanson's ignorance of the issues at hand shows just how out-of-touch the Republican Party is with black America.
-- Francis Mullins,
citizen
Veteran speaks out against Spiegel spiel
Normally, I ignore asinine letters like Mr. Spiegel's, but his views and similar ones such as the Fahrenheit Phoenix crowd have been given a good deal of publicity. I have served eight years in the Army, half on active duty and half in the National Guard. I never got the call to go to Iraq, even though I served up until earlier this year. However, I did "put my body where my mouth is" by fighting in Kosovo. I am starting to get sick and tired of people and ASU professors who write guest columns using my comrades as pawns in their silly little chess games.
The stone cold fact is a lopsided majority of our veterans and soldiers support the president and the war in Iraq. You and your ilk may feel that the soldiers who have given their lives died without a cause. The truth of the matter is that if we had not invaded Iraq, the soldiers who died freeing Kuwait and imposing sanctions on Saddam that allowed Iraq's neighbors to live without the threat of invasion would have died in vain ...
President Bush sent a clear message that this is no longer the case. If you think Saddam would not have harmed us, you are ignorant; there are proven ties to him and the first World Trade Center bombing. If you think Saddam never had the infamous weapons of mass destruction, then I will again label you as ignorant. Saddam used them on his own people.
No matter how you look at it, the people of the United States, Iraq and the world are far better off without Saddam in power. If I didn't break it down far enough for you and you still view the war as "pre-emptive," then ask yourself this question: if you were President [Roosevelt] and you knew what you know now, would you have launched a "pre-emptive" strike on Japan, even though more than 50 percent of the American people would have despised you, but the 3,000 people slaughtered at Pearl Harbor would have survived?
If you still say no, then you are a murderer. The only thing worse than committing a crime is witnessing it and doing nothing.
... Mr. Spiegel, why don't you serve, so you have some expertise to base your pinhead arguments on? However, I cannot support that stance because veterans like myself shed our blood so everyone can give their opinions with out shedding their own blood.
-- Erik Hoffman,
ASU student
The pavement broke my fall
Last Thursday I was hit by a truck while riding my bike on the correct side of the road and not breaking any laws of which I know. There was a cop very close by when the accident occurred, yet neither the cop nor the driver who hit me stopped to see if I was OK. By the way, I'm fine and no, I didn't get the license plate: I was too busy scraping myself off the pavement.
It strikes me as interesting that while ASU has such a limited number of parking spaces available, they never encourage carpooling or mass transit by providing financial benefits, and now they are discouraging non-drivers by issuing disproportionately large tickets for crossing a street without a little green man telling us it's OK first. Tempe police Sgt. Dan Masters said he is concerned with our safety, and apparently $150 is the only way all of us irresponsible children will ever learn.
Listen Dan, I was following the rules; I was doing everything to keep myself safe, and I was still hit. If I get a ticket tomorrow and have to pay $150, I still might get hit again. Thanks for the help though.
First, I'd like to see a cop try to catch me on my bike after I jaywalk and head into campus at 10:35 a.m. with 40,000 other students walking down Palm Walk. Is he going to turn his lights and siren on and hope people clear out?
Second, I'd like the police to leave me and my fellow pedestrians alone and instead crack down on the drivers who run over people's toes (or me) when they turn right without checking the crosswalks or their mirrors for pedestrians, and then, while you're at it, arrest and use excessive force on the guys who like to burn out off the line while trying to impress the freshmen crossing University. These guys are obviously compensating for something and need to be taken down a peg. They are more of a danger to me than I am to myself.
Third, I'd actually like to thank ASU and Tempe police for shooting their cheap revenue gain in the foot by warning me about when and where they will be so I can continue to avoid a pricey ticket. I'll be on my bike tomorrow at about 10:30 a.m. Come get me.
-- Adam Wright,
ASU student
