Letters: July 2018

Seeking Alternatives

David LaGrand’s commentary “Imprisoned by Poverty” (May 2018) calls attention to an issue with our justice system, namely how bail can create severe problems for people who cannot come up with the necessary funds. This leads me to a practical question. We often hear reports of model bills that the American Legislative Exchange Council is presenting to state legislatures, trying to get undesirable policy made into law. My question is: Is there a good alternative to ALEC? Once Michigan and other states have thought about the problem and come up with a solution, would it be possible to get model legislation that we could present to members of our state legislatures? Perhaps we could get advice about the most effective way to bring such issues to their attention.

Norm Mundhenk
Poulsbo, Washington

Soft Bigotry

I was fascinated to read Eboo Patel’s column “The Trouble with Identity Politics” (May 2018). To make the point as broadly as I think is reasonable, the problem is that identity politics can dehumanize individuals by painting them with the broad brush of a determined identity. Every individual has value, and it is important to avoid the lazy tendency to oversimplify people by clumping them together in easily recognizable groups and then simply assuming some stereotypical group ethic or belief will apply equally to all so clumped. There are Republican-leaning voters who are deeply concerned about poverty and the environment. There are gun owners who espouse stricter gun regulations in America. There are liberal Americans who are pro-life—and more, if you adopt Sister Joan Chittister’s broad definition of the term as embracing all lives and not just the lives of the unborn.

There is no single belief or theory held dear uniformly by the entirety of any group of people, and to shoehorn people into a presumed set of beliefs based on an easily recognized category is just a form of soft bigotry, and is to be avoided. God loves us for who we are, despite what we do, and does not select according to our race, cultural heritage, or political associations.

Scott Anderson
Golden Beach, Maryland

Prejudice Isn’t (Only) a Southern Thing

Dear Ed Spivey Jr.: Please do not mistake my Southern accent for ignorance or prejudice. Your column in the May 2018 issue (“I Could Stick My Head in the Sand”) said as much. Unfortunately, our nation is full of prejudice. Please stop spreading the myth that it is exclusive to the South. Otherwise, I enjoyed your column. Especially the part about being afraid when the president is “awake” (you really should have added those quotation marks around the word awake).

James Halliday
LaFayette, Georgia

Clarification: The May 2018 commentary “What Hurricane María Revealed,” by Alexandra Rosado-Román, stated that “the 1920 Jones Act only allows entrance to [Puerto Rico] by U.S. ships.” The act pertains to goods shipped between U.S. ports.