Views in brief
Condemning prisoners to illness
IN RESPONSE to "Condemned to Valley Fever": My husband resides at Pleasant Valley State Prison. He has been there since 2010. He contracted Valley Fever while there.
He's been incarcerated for 13 years and has never been sick as he has since being there. It saddens me for my husband. He has sent many health appeals to the state and has been denied proper housing and also a transfer. I will say this: My husband doesn't fall into the category that the media is portraying. They are saying that this only affects those inmates who are African American, Filipino, elderly or who have compromised immune systems.
I will do my best to reach out to every newspaper and media outlet that I have to, so that my husband can be helped. In 2011, I reached the prison ombudsman's office and all they could do is give me a 1-800 number which I tried several times and reached closed doors.
Some of the comments and responses that I have been reading in several newspapers say if the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation moves these individuals it will create a mass racial problem due to overcrowding and possible riots and the such. First of all, the prison system in California is a mess already. We have more prisons than any other states in the whole U.S.
Regardless of the crimes any inmate has done and is serving time for, they are still human beings and they have rights, as we do. Some of these inmates are our loved ones and friends. Valley Fever is not just an "all of the sudden" hit to the prison system in the San Joaquin Valley--this has been an ongoing problem in this valley for years, even decades.
The truth needs to be heard from the inside and outside, meaning from both within the prison and the surrounding communities. I know a few people who were farmworkers who have passed away due to Valley Fever.
Thank you for allowing me to comment, and I hope my husband will be treated, transferred or hospitalized soon.
Genissa Islas, Hesperia, Calif.
Fighting for Trayvon in London
ABOUT 70 people enraged and saddened by the acquittal of racist murderer George Zimmerman in the shooting of Travyon Martin gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy in London on July15 to raise their voices in protest.
A mixed-race crowd that included many Black Britons, African Americans and members of the British left chanted the name "Trayvon Martin" in a call-and-response style that was both protest song and elegy.
Wayne, a student at University of London, called the verdict proof of "institutionalized racism" in the U.S. and compared the killing of Martin to Mark Duggan, a 29 year-old Black man shot by British police in Tottenham, in North London, on August 4, 2011.
Where the vigilante Zimmerman called Martin a "punk" probably on "drugs" before shooting him, Duggan was under surveillance by Operation Trident, a subdivision of the Metropolitan Police meant to "target" Black communities. Accusations of police misconduct by Duggan's family helped to trigger the 2011 English riots.
Harry, a student at Queen Mary, University of London, said he was also outraged by the verdict. Harry, who is Black, said he had been stopped three times within the past year by British police, who now use "stop-and-frisk" tactics similar to those broadly implemented by the New York City Police Department after 9/11.
Jamelia Bastien, an African American student at Kings College and originally from New York City, said it was outrageous that the judge in the Zimmerman trial refused to allow race to be part of the discussion of the case. Her friend Molly, another University of London student, called the omission of discussion of race in the trial part of a "new age systematic racism" in the U.S. that refuses to acknowledge that racism still exists.
The crowd was led in chants and marches by several students from Purdue University who were in London to study. The students took turns speaking to the crowd, one pointing out that the Martin case reminded her that her 17-year-old brother in the U.S. is still vulnerable to racist vigilantes like Zimmerman. The Purdue speakers led the crowd in chants of "No justice, no peace" and "Hey hey, ho ho, white supremacy's got to go!"
Another speaker, a single Black mother from London, said the Martin case reminded her of how difficult it was to raise children in Britain during cutbacks to social services that have disproportionately affected the poor and working class. Several speakers also mentioned that the U.S. continues to wage war against non-white people around the world in the form of drone strikes in Afghanistan and Africa.
The embassy rally served as a reminder of how the Trayvon Martin case has come to be seen as an international symbol of U.S. racism and imperialism, and how attacks against Black people in the U.S. are as Malcolm X once said, "not a problem of civil rights but a problem of human rights."
Bill Mullen, West Lafayette, Ind.
What "redneck" doesn't explain
IN RESPONSE to "The verdict on American racism": I agree with every aspect of the above article except for the use of "rednecks" to refer to local officials who refused to prosecute white men and protect minorities in the South.
I don't care about the concept of insulting a lot of ugly racists, but "redneck" as a term refers to impoverished white laborers, not middle-class to wealthy individuals in positions of governmental authority.
I have no doubt that many poor whites in the South were racists, along with many other horrible things, being from Georgia myself. But I'd like to call people what they are, and a white man who holds a law degree or the right to arrest those he sees fit isn't a person with limited local or regional authority. A "redneck" has the privilege of his/her race, but they don't have the added level of social privilege that comes with money and status. A "redneck" may well be a racist, and may well commit hate crimes, but they don't on their own have the power to press charges against, drop charges again, enact laws or bend rules to further benefit their racism the way that those people in power did/do.
I want the article to be clear that the people who Black men and women needed to "go over the heads of" in terms of the legal and justice system in this country were not the (relatively) powerless poor, but those with the opportunity to make an immediate difference and who chose not to, who chose to prosecute Black citizens for non-existent crimes and let white citizens off the hook for murders and abuses beyond words.
Call the South's police, sheriffs, mayors, governors and Congress people what they are: privileged, white, middle- and upper-class racists. A group of people in power who want to keep the poor and minorities down, and use racism to achieve both goals at once. After all, if we, the poor, are always fighting with one another, we can never look to dismantle the systems that oppress us.
Jessica, from the Internet
Baseball, drugs and crime
IN RESPONSE to "Time to decriminalize baseball": While I agree with much of what Dave Zirin has to say, I would ask which medical practitioners he would like to have oversee the performance-enhancing drugs? Would they be independent, hired by the players or the union? Or would they be the medical staffs of the ball clubs, in which case there might well a conflict of interest as there is in the National Football League, where players are frequently returned to action too soon.
I would also argue with the idea that "purists...revere a game that never existed." Baseball was never "pure" and problem-free, the same as society in general, but there certainly was a joy and romance to the game that seems to be lacking nowadays.
Ron Kaplan, Whippany, N.J.
