Letters To The Editor Week Of 12/6/2021

A great divide
To the editor: First of all, I am writing because I am a father who has been grieving my son, Terence, who was 39 when he died an alcoholic in 2017 – due to his personal demons. I disagree with Kyle Rittenhouse being allowed to kill two white human beings, Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber – and being judged not guilty – by a jury of his white peers.
Seemingly, Rittenhouse’s taking the witness stand to buttress his claim of self-defense seemed to have swayed the jury; along with the unprofessional manner in which the prosecutor prosecuted the case for the State of Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, in the South, specifically the State of Georgia in a Glynn County Courthouse; the trial of Greg and Travis McMichael along with William “Roddie” Bryan was presided over by Judge Timothy Walmsley. These three white men were being tried for the murder of jogger Ahmaud Arbery, whom they sought via a citizen’s arrest.
Here America perceives a presence of a different culture and mindset. My thinking was the prosecutor would inquire of the son – Travis- as to why he didn’t leave his gun in the truck with father, Greg. Secondly, then, just follow Arbery to his home and call “911” so the police could meet them at Arbery’s address.
Additional factors related to the Arbery trial are that the composition of the jury has eleven whites and one black. Plus, all three white defendants pled self-defense; though, only Travis McMichael was forced to kill Ahmaud Arbery in “self-defense.”
Regardless, of the issues related to the Rittenhouse trial versus the Arbery trial, it says a lot about what and where the American Justice System is headed. I agree that our American justice system is on life support because of the ignorance about the pervasiveness of white supremacy.
Essentially, we – black and white America – are at a spiritual crossroads. Due to the crisis existing between our justice system and white supremacy. One also needs to consider the cultural and psychological factors of the coronavirus war, which seems to be related to the spiritual narrative of our divided nation.
We shouldn’t allow Kyle Rittenhouse or Georgia’s McMichaels to personify this quote by Issac Asimov: “The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant threat winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as great as your knowledge.”
Clarence Gafeney
Toledo

A new ‘hero’
To the editor: Regarding Thomas Knapp’s guest editorial about Kyle Rittenhouse, who is now the new hero of the far right.
Rittenhouse is not an innocent little child. Nobody goes to a protest rally armed to the teeth unless he is trying to intimidate other people. The right of peaceful protest is written in our Constitution but the radical right is making every effort to assure people who don’t agree with them are beaten up or run down by cars as they have on several occasions.
The people who were afraid were the peaceful protestors; not somebody armed to the teeth. If Rittenhouse was afraid he shouldn’t have gone to the protest.
Knapp blasted the incompetence of the prosecutors; however, the conservative judge did several things that showed he wasn’t impartial.
This bad ruling does several things. It chills people from protesting who aren’t neo-fascist right- wingers. It makes vigilantism acceptable, thanks also to another right-wing judge who ruled on the Trayvon Martin case.
We all know right-wingers are afraid of everything so our right-wing justice system gives all right-wingers a right to shoot people they don’t like. Little by little conservatives are bringing back lawlessness and destroying our Constitution.
Albert Kapustar
Oregon