Race conversation sparks an opportunity
There is presently some controversy in Sequim over whether the city council should issue a proclamation condemning racism.
Most citizens have noticed the patriotic elderly gentleman, sitting on the corner of Washington and Sequim Avenue for many weeks, waving a sign supporting an anti racist group BLM (Black Lives Matter). CNN focused national attention on our little town by traveling here to report on some of our local happenings.
The George Floyd trial is now beginning in Minneapolis. If you remember, Mr. Floyd was a 46-year-old African-American, a husband and father that most folks would argue was “cut down in the prime of his life” as a victim of racist behavior.
Why not seize the opportunity to set an example for the rest of the country and make a statement about racism?
In Minneapolis, the intersection where Mr. Floyd died is now being referred to as George Floyd Square to honor him.
Perhaps we could do the same thing in Sequim by naming the intersection of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street for Mr. Floyd, with statuary and a plaque describing that event.
It has recently been announced that the City of Minneapolis has awarded Mr. Floyd’s family a sum of money for their loss, but how can a dollar value be placed on the life of one of our citizens?
Bob McGonigel
Sequim
Letter-writer’s logic seems misguided
I am not surprised that Dick Pilling (Letters to the Editor, Sequim Gazette, March 10, page A-14), a local Republican leader, would cast aspersions at the current administration.
His claim to having completed “a 12-step program intended to disabuse myself of an unhealthy reliance upon logic and rational thinking” is, however, very surprising. It seems that many of his party have successfully completed such a program. How else could one explain their fixation on “the stolen election” when innumerable claims and court filings have failed to produce a single shred of evidence.
Recent polls show that many republicans will refuse COVID-19 vaccination when the overwhelming evidence is that it is both safe and effective.
And many still claim that climate change is a “hoax” when there are thousands of climatology scientists and hundreds of international institutions whose research shows otherwise.
Mr. Pilling does not need the “14-step program” he mentions in his letter. His party, at least, seems well removed from “reliance on logic and rational thinking.”
Paul Wessel
Sequim
