Pak is one-sided and grim
I am writing in response to an article written by Samantha Pak on July 26. Ms. Pak writes about people whose voices are not often heard. Her stories are one-sided and grim. Why not write positive articles about people we seldom hear from that work hard, and contribute to our society? She defends the “squad.” People have already heard about them in the press and formed their own opinion.
Ms. Pak is sensitive to ethnicity and racial injustice. This evidently started back from her childhood. Her playground experience describing the “white” boys teasing her about her appearance was dismissed by her as the boys being ignorant, but later brings it up as a racial experience. Boys will always be boys regardless of ethnicity. This is not an ethnicity problem, it is boys teasing girls.
I am an immigrant and came to the United States by choice and am very happy here. I had opportunities to work, practice my religion, raise the family and have had many colleagues and friends of different ethnic backgrounds. We have all assimilated into American ways of life, accepted the English language as the common language and are proud of the Constitution, values and established laws. I have lived under different U.S. presidents, who have been duly elected, including our current President Trump. He, like other presidents, is trying to accomplish what he has promised for ALL Americans.
Ms. Pak should write her columns with more thought. The articles should be balanced. If there are injustices, they should be pointed out but all voices should be heard. Those who have achieved or are achieving the American dream are not always heard from and they are the ones that have helped build this country for all of us and generations to come.
Richard Jarzebowicz
Kirkland
Trump’s message unseemly but not racist
Many of Ms. Pak’s columns revolve around a recurring theme: “Let’s talk about race.” Her latest column “We’re better than this” (Reporter, July 26), is another unimaginative and insipid essay on race.
It recounts her one (and only one) direct experience of racism: a kindergarten schoolyard taunting. She used that painful experience to pre qualify her to relate to the taunting of AOC Plus 3 (Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)) (referring to them as The Squad carries dark military overtones that are undoubtedly “triggering” to Pacifists) by our president.
Although his rhetoric was clumsy and dumb, the intent of the president’s message was not racist. In fact, the underlying message he conveyed should be familiar to anyone who has operated a business and got tired of hearing one employee’s constant whining and complaining: “Look, if you think this job [America] is SO horrible and you complain about it ALL the time, to ANYONE who will listen, why don’t you go find ANOTHER job [country]?!”
It was an unseemly thing for a president to say, true, but based on recent polls a plurality of Americans agree that the hyperbole and misinformation that spews from the mouths of AOC Plus 3 is similarly unattractive and unhelpful.
For example, while asserting that conditions for illegal immigrants (sorry: “asylum seekers”) in Obama-era detention centers are horrible and that helpless immigrant families are “drinking from toilets,” she later voted against a bipartisan bill that pledged billions more taxpayer dollars to improve conditions at the facilities. If President Donald Trump is the only one brave enough to stand up to the political bullying of AOC Plus 3, so be it. I pity the plight of Madam Speaker Pelosi, who has to figure out how to herd these wildcats while keeping the Democrats’ “Socialists R Us” presidential candidates from running completely off the road, yielding another electoral humiliation.
Roger Clarke-Johnson
Kirkland
No one hears the middle
I’m just a regular guy, retired U.S. Coast Guard, run a steel fab business in Seattle and live in Bellevue.
I get so frustrated when I read articles like [Samantha Pak’s “We’re better than this,” Kirkland Reporter, July 26]. When everything becomes about race and identity politics, it all becomes gray noise. I used to be a Democrat, then an Independent and now I am a solid Republican.
People are just getting fed up with the entire mess. That’s why we got Trump! The far left and far right seem to only listen to their side. The middle, I feel, actually listens to both sides, but know one hears them.
It was no surprise to me that Trump won. My Democrat friends were in shock. Unfortunately for them, they will again be in shock in 2020. The extremes on both sides are killing this country. Since the extremes are so noticed and get all the attention, no one is looking at the American side — very sad to me.
The more I hear about the “Squad” and their history, it disgusts me. It is not because they are women of color. Their ideas are detrimental to this country and their extreme views scare the hell out of me.
Kerry Tim
Bellevue
We ARE better than this
The opinion article authored by Samantha Pak, hit the nail on the head.
The outright racism from the White House directed at the four congresswomen and Rep. Elijah Cummings, and the cries of “send her back” from the mob scene, are direct attacks on the principles of our country and the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.
We should not and cannot be silent, to these attacks on our fellow humans and citizens. Unless we are of 100 percent Native American heritage, we are ALL immigrants or descended of immigrants. Being an American does not imply being white and anyone who believes that is welcome to meet me for coffee.
It is time we all stand up to this blatant, racist rhetoric. This is not America at its finest. We are better than this!
Kathy MacKay Heneghan
Issaquah
A sobering piece
I want to state that the opinion piece written by Samantha Pak in the July 26 edition of the Bothell/Kenmore Reporter was not only well written but sobering.
As referenced in the article regarding the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, I see it happening all over again with our current immigration crisis. Our current administration talks the same talk, “They are taking our jobs,” and is basically degrading anyone of color, foreign born.
We as a nation need to open our eyes to reality and become a welcoming nation once again.
Judith Carpenter
Bothell
