Restrict letters from racists
I understand that letters to the editor represent an important aspect of public free speech for those without a platform. There are some letters, however, that should never be printed, and it concerns me the TFP often allows hate speech and racism to appear in this section. June Griffin's letter (Oct. 18) is a good example. From one photo of Robert E. Lee's house slaves dressed in hoop skirts, she deduces that all the shackles, lynchings and horrors of slavery were fancies. Her conclusion is factually incorrect, but more importantly it is insulting and racist and a lame attempt to revive the myth of beneficent slave holding. Giving a woman a hoop skirt is small consolation for her status as a piece of property. You have another regular letter writer who constantly attacks Muslims while degrading and misrepresenting Islam. By printing these letters, you do not advance the cause of free speech but rather do harm to our fragile sense of community.
JOHN C. REIS
The congressman showed his colors The August election is behind us with all the lies, half truths and deception of Chuck Fleischmann's campaign. It made me very upset with our congressman. I have always heard when a man shows you who he really is, believe him. Enough said.
ZELLA DIXON
Spend more on jobs; elect Mary Headrick
In the upcoming election, we have an important decision to make. Do we want to continue the current gridlock that has existed in Congress for the last several years? I always thought the "American way" meant that one side proposed something, then the other either agreed or came up with an alternative. But lately, it seems that anything proposed by our president is only answered with "no's" - no better plan, no creative ideas - just "no" to anything Obama suggests. Sure, we need more jobs, but that could be addressed by creating work that would clean up our destruction of this world. Pollution is causing an even greater need for affordable health care. That would make it rewarding to clean up - an easy way to better health! We need to spend some of the money the current Congress is so concerned about wasting on research to encourage solar solutions - that sounds like lots of jobs! I feel Dr. Mary Headrick could be an answer in this election. She has a basic desire to change Congress, to get it working together to solve problems, to put people before politics. Vote Mary Headrick!
PATTY COUNTS