Racism

Dear Editor, I would first like to respond to Mike Houchin's letter by saying that I fully respect and support his service to our country. Thank you, Mr Houchin. Perhaps I should have used the word discrimination when comparing the ridiculous marriage amendment that the Bush administration would love to put on the Constitution. However, I would also like to remind Mr. Houchin that racism appears in many different forms. I would also like to say that as far as abortion, Mr. Houchin has my sympathy for being given up at birth by his biological parents, but until the Supreme court changes the law, which the newly appointed conservative members would love to do, it is still legal.

Dear Editor, My friends and I for the past eight to 10 weeks have been enjoying some Sunday fun pitching Corn Hole. Corn Hole is a game similar to horse shoes only instead of pitching heavy, dirty metal around a pole, you try to pitch little bags filled with corn into a hole that is cut out in boards. Nonetheless, my friends and I were enjoying these games in our backyards. But as weeks went on, more and more bored people started to come out to play. Within five weeks we had outgrown our backyards so we decided to move our games to the ever so vacant Cowan Street Park.

Dear Editor, I've been reading letters to the paper for a while. It is plain to see racism is alive and well in Danville. The sad thing is that it seems to be coming from a strange place. What everybody needs to remember is if all the blacks voted for Obama like everybody thinks, and all the whites voted for McCain, then McCain would have won. Many whites did cast a vote for Obama. I was not one of them, and I won't lie about that fact. I don't like his policies or his socialist ideals at all. We are stuck with him for four years.

I've already had to address this issue, but it keeps coming up, and I can't sit idly by. Once again, mainstream pundits and well-known liberal Kentucky columnists are accusing our state of racism in the presidential election. Their evidence: Barack Obama trails John McCain by 18 percent. That's it. That's all they've got. Obama trails in the polls, so we must all be racists. Those who make this dangerous assertion are using the wide gap in the state polls as their premise. If you have ever been accused of racism, then you know how horrible an accusation it is. It's a game-ending political chess move.

Dear Editor, In response to the article about racism and the chaining of the Cowan Street Park, I want to thank you for taking this matter as seriously as you did. I am pleased to hear that racism played no role in this matter. However, I am not as reluctant to believe that the gate was in the interest of what has been stated. Furthermore, Mr. Turner has valid reasons for believing racism played a role. Ever since I was a teenager living in Danville, the black community has been gently nudged or pushed away from recreational activities at local parks.

Patsi Trollinger is second runner-up for the Heritage Festival Playwriting Contest. Her work is titled "Gettin' Around" and is based on black jockey Jimmy Winkfield, "an extraordinary black jockey from late 1800s and into the 1900s. Trollinger also has a book written about Winkfield, whom she believes is the ancestor of one of the Fryes of Danville. Winkfield won the Kentucky Derby twice, Trollinger says, and was a shoe-in to win it a third time. He got cocky, though, and ended up losing.

Dear Editor, In your "Thumbs Down" comment on Oct. 3, you point out that Kerry Kenley "perceived" something different than you did. Videos are telling, but provide little context for shaping definite pictures. After viewing the video, I too believe the policemen acted in a proper, guidebook way - one doesn't get the perception that the officers did anything wrong. Yet context is everything, and it's valid to wonder if the case had instead involved a couple of local white hunters whether there would have been a call to police at all. It's also fair to ask if Kenley might be wondering if still in 2008 when two black men with guns are stopped in Danville there remains at least a psychological taboo.

Sen. Barack Obama is a newcomer to national politics, and as such, he is something of an unknown quantity. He is young and is still in his first term. Despite his age and experience, he makes an astonishing impression on voters. As many of us have observed, he says things that resonate deeply with voters. The excitement he generates among black voters is no surprise. What is intriguing is the excitement he generates among white voters. I find myself drawn to the man, even though many would consider me very conservative.

Life for African-Americans is no longer a nightmare, but it still is a far cry from the dream envisioned more than four decades ago by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And in order for King's dream of racial equality and harmony to come true, more work has to be done on reducing barriers to employment, housing and educational opportunities, and that work should begin at home and in hometowns. So said a dozen area African-Americans in interviews prior to Monday afternoon's celebration of King's birthday at First Baptist Church, Second and Walnut streets.

Our Election Day edition is being criticized by some members of the African-American community who are unhappy with how we handled the day-after coverage of the presidential election. Others have joined in the fray, too, and we welcome what one writer called "constructive criticism. " But some of the response can hardly be described in that fashion. We expect that not everyone will agree with our decisions about coverage and story placement, and we expect to hear from those who do not. When we explain, you may still disagree, and that's OK, but at least you have something to help you relate to our thinking, even if you still consider it unthinkable.

Dear Editor, I've been reading letters to the paper for a while. It is plain to see racism is alive and well in Danville. The sad thing is that it seems to be coming from a strange place. What everybody needs to remember is if all the blacks voted for Obama like everybody thinks, and all the whites voted for McCain, then McCain would have won. Many whites did cast a vote for Obama. I was not one of them, and I won't lie about that fact. I don't like his policies or his socialist ideals at all. We are stuck with him for four years.

Dear Editor, In your "Thumbs Down" comment on Oct. 3, you point out that Kerry Kenley "perceived" something different than you did. Videos are telling, but provide little context for shaping definite pictures. After viewing the video, I too believe the policemen acted in a proper, guidebook way - one doesn't get the perception that the officers did anything wrong. Yet context is everything, and it's valid to wonder if the case had instead involved a couple of local white hunters whether there would have been a call to police at all. It's also fair to ask if Kenley might be wondering if still in 2008 when two black men with guns are stopped in Danville there remains at least a psychological taboo.

I've already had to address this issue, but it keeps coming up and I can't sit idly by. Once again, main stream pundits and well-known liberal Kentucky columnists are accusing our state of racism in the presidential election. Their evidence: Barack Obama trails John McCain by 18 percent. That's it. That's all they've got. Obama trails in the polls, so we must all be racists. Those who make this dangerous assertion are using the wide gap in the state polls as their premise. If you have ever been accused of racism, then you know how horrible an accusation it is. It's a game ending political chess move.

Dear Editor, I am a resident of Danville, but am presently doing contract work in Japan. I am unable to physically walk in to the mayor's office. I am trying to keep an open mind about the negative complaints pertaining to Mayor Coomer. I wonder if the people calling for his resignation voted for him to begin with. (If so, please do not reply with negative letters.) You question his mental health because he is passing out copies of the complaints to the public, but at the same time many Danville citizens would react in the same manor or worse to defend their name.

Sen. Barack Obama is a newcomer to national politics, and as such, he is something of an unknown quantity. He is young and is still in his first term. Despite his age and experience, he makes an astonishing impression on voters. As many of us have observed, he says things that resonate deeply with voters. The excitement he generates among black voters is no surprise. What is intriguing is the excitement he generates among white voters. I find myself drawn to the man, even though many would consider me very conservative.

Dear Editor, In response to the article about racism and the chaining of the Cowan Street Park, I want to thank you for taking this matter as seriously as you did. I am pleased to hear that racism played no role in this matter. However, I am not as reluctant to believe that the gate was in the interest of what has been stated. Furthermore, Mr. Turner has valid reasons for believing racism played a role. Ever since I was a teenager living in Danville, the black community has been gently nudged or pushed away from recreational activities at local parks.

A letter writer in Sunday's paper suggested race was the reason the city put up a gate at Cowan Street Park and asked the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People for help. Local NAACP President Norman Bartleson Jr. responded, coming before the Danville City Commission on Monday night for an explanation. He left satisfied that the city had no racial motive in keeping vehicles from driving into the park. Frederick Turner of Danville implied in his letter Sunday that the city put up the locked gate across an entrance to Cowan Street Park to keep him and his mostly black friends from gathering there on Sundays to play Corn Hole.

Dear Editor, My friends and I for the past eight to 10 weeks have been enjoying some Sunday fun pitching Corn Hole. Corn Hole is a game similar to horse shoes only instead of pitching heavy, dirty metal around a pole, you try to pitch little bags filled with corn into a hole that is cut out in boards. Nonetheless, my friends and I were enjoying these games in our backyards. But as weeks went on, more and more bored people started to come out to play. Within five weeks we had outgrown our backyards so we decided to move our games to the ever so vacant Cowan Street Park.