Some people seem to lack any understanding of what a good letter is all about — the editors at Harper’s, for instance, seem to be clueless. Let’s show them how it’s done.
Notice that it immediately explains what specific incident the letter is about: signs that say “Black Lives Matter” have been getting vandalized here in Morris. It explains why this issue is important. It asks for a specific action, a public declaration by city officials that such criminal destruction is wrong. It asks for continued discussion. This is how you do it.
This letter is written by a student here at UMM. The signatories of that other letter are right to be concerned about their reputations and prospects, because this current generation is going to blow them all away.
By the way, I have a “Black lives matter” sign in my yard that hasn’t been defaced at all, yet. It helps that I’m in the bubble of reasonableness of the university.
Reminds me of back when I was in college and every year in January the local College Christians and the College Republicans would put on a pro-life display around the anniversary of Roe Vs. Wade. That display consisted of nothing more than enlarged posters of late term aborted fetuses. It was disgusting and misleading and I hated it. I wanted nothing more than to kick them over and smash them to pieces, but I didn’t. They applied for their permits, paid the fees and got permission from the OSU administration to put on their little blood and guts freak show. My hands were tied.
I’ve spoken with recent grads from my Alma Mater and they aren’t allowing these displays any more. Moreover the College Republicans are a lot quieter. They no longer have their own newspaper. I guess some progress has been made, but the spite I feel having to walk by that every day just to get to the library still makes me angry.
Has the city made any statement?
I don’t trust passive verbs.
That’s a great letter, no doubt about it.
This is a great political spot: https://youtu.be/-vZp3FAQZvU
@#1, Ray Ceeya:
Near where I grew up, there is a Catholic church and parochial school which occasionally has this display where they fill their front lawn with tombstones and put up a sign saying “these tombstones represent babies lost to abortion” or something like that.
I have been extremely tempted, on those occasions when I have passed through (still have relatives around) and the display is up to glue a new sign on top saying “these tombstones represent the native Americans slaughtered by Catholic explorers with the approval of the Pope” or maybe “these tombstones represent inconvenient girls and babies the Catholic clergy starved to death and then buried without ceremony in the Magdelene Laundries” or perhaps “these tombstones represent the people who might have been saved in World War II if the Pope had not sold out humanity in the Laterian treaty”, or something like that…