Letters to the Editor

Negative columns about crime issue aren’t helping

Editor,

The columns of Nadra Enzi, such as that of Jan. 18, remind one of the story about the Frenchman who saw the Empire State Building for the first time.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” he exclaimed. “It reminds me of sex.”

“But why,” said the puzzled tour guide, “should a tall building remind you of sex?”

“Of course,” the Frenchman replied, “everything reminds me of sex.”

In Enzi’s case, the subject is white guilt, and one more chance to be the poor victim in an unfair world.

It seems to me that if such people truly wanted the best for their community and were concerned about crime, they would welcome the renewed interest in the subject, whatever its origin.

They would then work with Mayor Otis Johnson and others to make Savannah a better place for all its citizens.

He even sneers at black churches, a constructive force in the community from Martin Luther King’s era to the present. In the recent MLK Day Parade it was wonderful to see people of all races marching together for justice and brotherhood.

As to profiling, how about the victims of crime? It seems that the more prosperous you look, the more attractive your home, the better your chances of being a statistic.

Also, if it is true that we did not do enough in the past about black-on-black crime, then it would seem that increased police protection in all neighborhoods now would be welcome.

As for why this did not happen sooner, a few other things have been going on also.

We have the controversial war in Iraq which has claimed the lives of more than 2000 American servicemen and women and the lives of countless civilians; a killer storm in the Gulf states and a bungling government response; and arguments about when federal anti-terrorism measures are unconstitutional.

There is never any mention in such columns about the people of all races who helped end segregation and are still working for a better city.

Surely Connect has some writers who can go beyond their personal prejudices to make some constructive and fair suggestions on the subject.

The suggestion of Alderman Tony Thomas that we raise taxes to pay for more officers and better salaries might be one place to start.

Margaret W. DeBolt



Kitty Strozier was dearly loved and will be missed

Editor,

Regarding Jane Fishman’s “Singing Kitty’s song, one last time”:

Thank you for the article about Kitty Strozier. She was so dearly loved by so many and it was great that you re-visited parts of her life that I’d forgotten, especially about her running off with the gypsies when she was only five.

I wasn’t able to see her before she passed away, but your story put me in the room with the others on her last night, and I was grateful for that. Jenny’s description of her “taking a jump” to somewhere was inspired.

Without exhaling her last breath, perhaps she took some of the breath of her friends with her to that other place where we will all join her one day.

So many of us will miss that raucous laughter, full of such poignant perceptions. I loved to drink scotch with her and talk ‘til the cows came home while listening to K.D. Lang.

If you went to Elaine’s website, the photograph you see of her with Dewberry is mine from the early ‘80s when she and I were kicking ass in the fashion world.

My memories from those days, among many others, will warm me until I’m old. Kitty is largely responsible for the confidence I found in myself as a solid artist.

Knowing her was not only empowering, but joyous beyond words.

Nancy Heffernan



The president can’t be above the law

Editor,

How nobly global and idealistic is that new buzz phrase raised by the Bush administration: “spreading democracy.” And how ironic it is as well. Really, it’s more like shredding democracy, considering the constitutional crisis created by the Bushites.

In George W. Bush we have a president who has been unchecked in his over-reaching the bounds of the Constitution, so much so that he threatens to undermine and even destroy the legal foundation of democratic law.

Like charity, democracy begins at home. Trying to foist a system of government on another land while underhandedly stripping away democratic laws here in America qualifies Bush and company not as “spreaders” but “shredders” of democracy.

Al Gore’s recent speech in Philadelphia served as a clarion call to all who respect the Constitution and love liberty.

Gore’s main focus was on Bush’s push for “unitary” or unilateral executive power. The very kind of unbalanced power that the Constitution sought to proscribe by establishing three branches -- the legislative, judicial and executive -- designed to be co-equal in power, each respecting the other’s authority.

Gore did get in one of the “I” words -- investigate Bush, but he did not openly call for the ultimate of “I” words -- impeach Bush for his overreaching and abusing executive power, which is really what is called for.

What the unitary theory of executive power espouses is tantamount to imperial control, naturally a far cry from democracy. The problem we’re faced with is that the GOP-led Congress has been largely subservient to Bush, so subservient that Congressional oversight duties have too often been sorely absent and neglected, leaving Bush both unchecked and unaccountable in grabbing for more and yet more power.

The litany of abuses of executive power and incompetence that Bush is guilty of is appalling -- really, it’s frightening to recite:

1) Deceiving the nation into going to war;

2) Approving of prisoner abuse and torture;

3) Unleashing a record of well over 200 “signing statements” disclaiming the need for his honoring the very laws he just signed, as he did with the McCain anti-torture bill;

4) Circumventing rights to attorney and trial;

5) Pushing Patriot Acts I & II that strip away civil liberties;

6) Fear-mongering;

7) Mishandling two hurricane disasters;

8) Taking cronyism to the extreme, appointing incompetent personnel;

9) Pandering to corporations like pharmaceutical companies in their profiteering from and messing up Medicare;

10) Squandering a budget surplus, transforming it into a colossal deficit;

11) Reversing decades of environmental progress and refusing to acknowledge and take action against global warming.

As if that list of abuses were not enough grounds for impeaching Bush, there now comes news of unwarranted surveillance through wire-tapping and spying on Americans without court orders, clearly contrary to the law regardless of how Bush tries to rationalize it. Illegal spying has been ongoing for four years, perhaps even on a massive scale.

Bush has even refused to desist in spy operations, insisting that he is justified in doing so because of his wartime executive rights along with a few other flimsy rationalizations.

To worsen matters, the Supreme Court is about to be turned over to a right-wing majority that favors the unitary theory of giving preference to the executive branch.

Nominee Samuel Alito, who appears certain to be voted to the Supreme Court by the Republican majority, openly subscribes to the unitary theory in spite of his giving lip service to respecting constitutional law. Alito’s prior voting record reveals that he favors executive privilege and overriding authority.

And finally we the people have not roundly and soundly enough opposed the steady eroding away and now outrageous shredding of the Constitution.

We must stand up, speak out and act against this onslaught of fascistic authoritarian control sweeping the land.

If the Constitution is to have a prayer of surviving this current crisis, we must see to it that the upcoming 2006 election breaks the spell of GOP domination by voting neo-cons and their lackeys out of office and voting in representatives and senators who are progressive, pro-democratic and respectful of the Constitution and the rule of law.

Yes, it is time we realize that our democratic system of government is under siege by those who would reshape it into an oligarchy.

And it is time we take action to resist and defeat this movement toward authoritarian control.

William H. Strong