Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 7-16-20

‘If I’m racist in your eyes so you are in mine’

A response to Andrew Stayman of Pine Plains, who wrote a recent letter to the editor…

I read your letter in The Millerton News in reference to my letter, dated June 11, 2020. You took excerpts from a social media post and added your words to them. When people say “Black Lives Matter” it DOES NOT ENCOMPASS ALL RACES AND COLORS! 

All lives matter no matter what “color” you are. 

You talk about me being a racist by my comments but you do not consider yourself a racist by telling me about rights and white entitlement! I am white but I was raised to work for what I needed for myself and my family. I raised four children the same way. I was never entitled to anything. I was never told that because of my race or color that I could get free college tuition, that I was entitled to get welfare to take care of my children. I’ve never been fired from a job, nor needed welfare or unemployment. You know why? I worked and did what the boss said to do. I worked 38 years for New York state and part time for 30 years on top of that so I could afford the things I needed: housing, transportation, food and utilities — but no one ever handed me anything. 

I saw plenty of times in my career with NYS that people of color were given jobs, even though their test results were less than a white man or woman taking the same test. Why is it that he/she was given a job over their white counterpart?

You know why.

If I’m racist in your eyes so you are in mine. You hold onto the Black vs. white agenda but you won’t admit it and you won’t let it go. I stand by my statements because they are mine, not someone else’s thoughts taken from social media.

Ron Murphy

Millerton

Disagrees on cartoon

I did see the cartoon and I had a chance to read the article entitled, “Cartoon was funny and accurate,” written by Andrew Stayman. I found his remarks, however, damaging to your community and a place I like to visit.   

In a time when people are so divisive, making insulting remarks, as to an entire group of American citizens runs counter to seeing the country come together. Hillary Clinton did this when she called all the Trump supporters “deplorable.” Did it help her campaign or did it drive people away?

As do many liberal Democrats, Mr. Stayman would like for people to come together, but sadly on his terms alone. During the last three and half years, the Democrats holding office found no compromise worthwhile if it was going advance the president’s agenda. 

The border wall is a good example. Clinton, Bush and Obama all saw the need for it, and called for to be done, but never did it. Trump built it despite the hypocritical resistance. Same thing with the Dreamers and again the Democrats resisted what they claim they wanted. Why? To stop the wall that Trump promised. 

Given the cartoon called an entire group of Americans — Trump supporters — stupid, Mr. Valentine was correct to write, “[you] would think that the local papers would be smart enough not to label American citizens as stupid.” Then to compound it by printing Andrew’s vitriol and ad hominin attack of President Trump that lacked any meaningful substance but only advanced division. This was not good.

Contrary to Andrew’s thoughtless and misguided claims, the Trump administration has done more smart things than the last three administrations. Trump supporters get it.  They understand Mr. Trump’s nationalistic (not isolationistic) view of putting America first is a good thing. They recognize that fighting globalism and the abuse that our prior leaders allowed China to get away with is smart. That using tariffs to achieve fair trade deals is smart. Bringing businesses back to America is smart. Making our Asian and European allies pay their fair share of the defense costs that America has been expending to defend their interests since 1945 is smart. Building the wall to prevent drug and slave traders from coming into the country is smart. Insisting immigrants come into the country legally is smart. Being for law and order, not defunding police forces and not allowing people to destroy our monuments that reflect our history is smart. 

Then, as to Andrew’s misguided claim about masks, the Trump administration protected Americans when the COVID-19 thing started by stopping the flood of infected Chinese from coming into the country. Mr. Trump brought hospital ships to NYC and elsewhere, built hospitals and ventilators to save Americans. This list of things goes on and the Trump supporters get it — because they are smart.  

Peter Antell

Boston