Monday’s Letters to the Editor

King’s words

EDITOR: In March 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed an audience at a high school in Grosse Point South, Michigan. He titled his talk “The Other America” and it started like this:

“I want to address the race problem tonight and I want to discuss it very honestly. I still believe that freedom is the bonus you receive for telling the truth. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And I do not see how we will ever solve the turbulent problem of race confronting our nation until there is an honest confrontation with it and a willing search for the truth and a willingness to admit the truth when we discover it.”

Some 50 years have gone by since King spoke those words, and we as a nation have had neither the willingness nor the courage to take on this divisive, shameful and gut-wrenching problem. As we work on our national aspirational goal of liberty and justice for all, let us hope that our great-grandchildren will live in an America where there is acceptance and appreciation for all human differences.

JIM COLEMAN

Santa Rosa

Free Julian Assange

EDITOR: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange must be released and all charges dropped. Because he exposed our government’s war crimes, as any reporter with integrity should do in a democracy, he is being persecuted by a dangerous and rogue element in our government. Media outlets, like The Press Democrat, must speak up and join other newspapers in defense of Assange’s First Amendment rights. The silencing of Assange will be the silencing of those who would inform the public of what’s being done in its name. And that is exactly the information we need to create a just and equitable society. We should be celebrating Assange as democracy’s champion and a hero.

JULIA HAWKINS

Cotati

Fomenting fear

EDITOR: Just can’t help yourselves, can you? Everything is not about climate change. As recently as the early 1970s, so-called experts were predicting a deep freeze. Stop with the catastrophic fear tactics and embrace the good news of rain returning to ease our water issues. There have been dramatic swings in global climate for centuries; ancient history records it. You look foolish.

JOHN JOBS

Santa Rosa

Standing room only

EDITOR: My wife and I enjoy walking through downtown Santa Rosa and visiting the restaurants and coffee shops. With all the rain, we decided to walk inside at the mall. After picking up some Peet’s coffee at Rocky Mountain Chocolate, we looked for a place to sit and enjoy the passing scene and were astonished to not find one; no seating at Peet’s, no seating at Starbucks, no seating in the downstairs level of the mall. (To their credit, Cinnabon had some tables out for customers and some creative walkers/shoppers were sitting on the edge of the children’s carousel and in the massage chairs). Come, on folks, is sitting forbidden in the Santa Rosa mall? You do want us to shop there, do you not?

BILL MONTGOMERY

Santa Rosa

Silencing critics

EDITOR: It is telling when Israel’s closest allies in Washington and Europe and American Jewish leaders voice concerns over formation of Israel’s most openly racist, right-wing government, StandWithUs’ Michael Harris (“UC’s Zionism debate,” Letters, Jan. 1) is ready as ever to accuse its critics of antisemitism — in this instance, Palestinian law students who object to having pro-Israel speakers at UC Berkeley’s law school, similar to Jewish groups like Hillel that oppose having supporters of Palestine speak on the UC campus.

Harris is listed as “Community Contact” for the North Bay chapter of StandWithUs, which is not questioning the new Israeli government’s likely actions, i.e., annexation of the West Bank and escalating violence against Palestinians.

In a statement a week earlier on its Facebook page, StandWithUs’ indifference to the dangers posed by the new Israeli government were made clear: “As a new Israeli government is sworn in, StandWithUs reaffirms our support for Israel and respect for Israeli democracy. StandWithUs is a nonpartisan education organization that does not endorse or oppose any Israeli political leadership.” It just exists to silence Israel’s critics.

JEFFREY BLANKFORT

Ukiah

Failure to communicate

EDITOR: What is it about most contractors that they somehow do not learn that communication is key to their business’ success? I cannot even begin to estimate the number of unreturned phone calls I’ve made over the years in attempts to establish initial contact with various service providers. After initial contact has been established, even more frustrating is their evident assumption that clients somehow know, telepathically perhaps, when the service provider will show up, or that clients have nothing better to do than to sit and wait for the provider to eventually show up well after the agreed upon time. Adequate, clear communication is an absolute imperative in providing virtually any service. However, it is unfortunately all too rare.

DOUG YULE

Sebastopol

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.