Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 02.18.16
Instead of crying NIMBY, help find fix
In response to “CMS assignment meeting draws large crowd” (Feb. 17):
High-poverty, failing schools are just another form of gerrymandering.
I ask the citizens of Matthews and Ballantyne to try to “put the shoe on the other foot.” If your neighborhood schools were failing, you would be the first to ask for change.
Instead of NIMBY, be part of the solution.
There are multiple, creative solutions to this issue, without cross-town busing. Offer alternatives to improve education for everyone.
Deb Park, Charlotte
Let’s have an honest conversation on race
The writer co-chairs the Project LIFT board.
I have gotten a kick out of recent Forum letters expressing disappointment that the CMS board is so focused on race.
Yes, it has always been about race. Slavery was about race. The Civil War was about race. Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, forced integration, lawsuits to end forced busing, the strong push to protect our neighborhood schools at all cost – all about race.
Shortly after Heath Morrison came to Charlotte as new superintendent, he declared that our community needed to have an honest conversation about race.
Maybe that is the crux of the matter – we rarely are honest in our conversations about race.
Richard “Stick” Williams, Huntersville
A court that leans right isn’t balanced
In response to “Don’t let lame-duck president make pick” (Feb. 17 Forum):
I don’t understand Forum writer Tripp Cherry’s logic when he states that a Supreme Court with five Republican nominated and confirmed justices (prior to Justice Antonin Scalia’s death) is a “balanced court,” but one with possibly five Democrat nominated and confirmed justices would be “very unbalanced towards the left.”
It seems to me that Mr. Cherry is a little unbalanced towards the right.
Richard French, Davidson
Congress shouldn’t obstruct court pick
President Obama has nine months until his successor is chosen, 11 months until he packs his bags.
It remains his duty and his privilege to nominate Justice Scalia’s successor.
It is the Senate’s duty to hold hearings on that nominee.
As Dana Milbank said in his Feb. 17 column: “... the people have already had their say. They re-elected President Obama in 2012.”
The Senate can confirm or reject, but they do not have a constitutional right to obstruct.
Mikki Burgess, Charlotte
Congress is a check on Obama’s power
In response to “GOP is undermining our Constitution” (Feb. 16 Forum):
The very reason the GOP is in a majority in both the House and Senate is because the American voters put that majority in place as a direct result of President Obama asserting more power than he actually has.
Time and time again he has tried bypassing Congress. What we are witnessing is simply a check on his power, as the founders intended.
Otherwise, Mr. Obama would be acting like a king, not a president.
David Cooke, Charlotte
Election map makers need political acumen
Election map makers need political acumen
When for decades the Democrats were in charge of drawing maps for the N.C. General Assembly and U.S. House, they displayed the partisanship that the Republican-dominated General Assembly now exercises. Such is the nature of politics.
There are those who urge that election maps be drawn by “objective” people and bodies.
No one who is even marginally conversant about politics is “objective.” Anyone who does not hold beliefs about the proper role of government is necessarily uninterested in the political process.
Those people are most certainly not equipped to make decisions about who gets to vote for whom, and where.
Philip Van Hoy, Charlotte
Mr. Trump, show me some substance
Mr. Trump, my excitement at the beginning of your campaign was palpable! Your direct way of speaking was bold and out of the box, forcing us to open our minds and think.
However, it was not long before many of us started to wonder if your demeanor was too caustic and bombastic for a president.
Mr. Trump, get off your silly soapbox and introduce some substance to your claim to represent the GOP in November.
If you are the nominee, I suspect the Democrats will vote in droves to keep you out of the White House unless you show real leadership potential.
Get real and stop being such a schoolyard bully. Lead, don’t push!
Murray Coulter, Charlotte
This story was originally published February 17, 2016 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Observer Forum: Letters to the editor 02.18.16."