|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Balancing the letters
In response to Rosemary Patterson and others who have grown weary of Mr. Ott’s too frequent rants, I’d like to defend the Weekly.
They can’t print letters they don’t get. I, for one, am guilty of not writing when perhaps I should. I also see the more measured voices in our community keeping quiet.
The publishers are duty-bound to print opposing views. It is even more important now that the Weekly and her sister publications in the Tri-Valley are officially 501(c)(3) nonprofit publications.
As my grandchildren say, “rules is rules” and the rules pertain to all of us. Or at least they’re supposed to.
Mr. Ott thinks he has mastered the art of the squeaky wheel. Those of us whose opinions deviate wildly from his assume Weekly readers have better sense than to buy into his rudeness and simply skim his letters and move on to what really matters. Perhaps we’ve grown too complacent and it is time for us to speak up.
Common sense leads me to believe most of us know better.
It’s a bit like reading Andy Borowitz’s satirical spins on world affairs. Mr. Ott is so outrageous in his rantings that I choose to laugh at them rather than spend my energy trying to refute them. I suspect I am not alone.
We are at a historical crossroad. Each of us has a voice, and it is up to us as individuals to use that voice. The world as we know it depends on it.
— Linda Kelly
Support STAY Act
Across California, ICE agents are operating in secrecy — storming homes and public spaces with their faces hidden, refusing to identify themselves, and detaining individuals without explanation. It’s a terrifying reality for immigrant communities and increasingly, for U.S. citizens as well.
This is not how a democracy treats its people. It’s how authoritarian regimes operate.
The STAY Act (SB 1121), introduced by Sens. Scott Wiener and Jesse Arreguín, aims to restore basic accountability. The bill would ban ICE officers from wearing masks during enforcement actions in California and require clear identification and documentation when they detain someone. These are minimal, sensible measures in any society that claims to uphold civil rights.
And yet we’re seeing cases like that of Adrian Andrew Martinez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen in Pico Rivera who was forcibly taken by masked ICE agents. His family had no information about his whereabouts or legal status. That should shake every Californian to the core.
We need to act before these tactics become normalized. Passing the STAY Act is a critical step toward protecting our communities and rejecting fear as a tool of policy.
— Kat Rosa
