A Letter to the Editor Concerning Bigotry

I don’t make a habit of submitting “letters to the editor” for publication in any newspaper. When I was doing my undergrad at the University of Georgia, I recall sending off a couples of responses for possible publication in the Letters section of our independent student newspaper, the Red & Black. They didn’t make the cut as the paper steered clear religion-related content.

However, the local Waco Tribune-Herald did decide today to publish my first letter submission since my days in Athens. Let me give the background:

A person by the name of Diane Schrader has on a few occasions recently managed to get her offensive thoughts published in the Letters section in the aftermath of the tragedy at Fort Hood.

On November 7, Schrader wrote:

Concerning Thursday’s mass murder at Fort Hood — which should be one of the safest places anywhere — this should never have happened.

When are we going to quit letting people from the Middle East come to our wonderful country?

They hate us. Face it. They only want to bring us harm. I know the alleged gunman, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was from Virginia, but somewhere down the line his origin is from the Middle East He was bred and raised to hate us and cause us harm, and that is exactly what happened.

I don’t understand how he was under investigation for six months and still allowed to be in his position.

Come on, America, wake up and come together and be vigilant. If you see something weird, tell somebody until they do something about it.

All the soldiers should be brought home and placed on posts in every major city in America. Let the people of the Middle East handle tyrants and war and bloodshed on their own. I think we would be safer then.

God bless America.

Diane Schrader

One reader responded to Schrader with this:

This is in response to Diane Schrader’s Nov. 7 letter in which she calls for not allowing people from the Middle East to come into our country following the Nov. 5 shootings at Fort Hood.

I am 87 years old and have lived through four wars. I am of Irish-Catholic heritage. Should all of the Irish in America be banned because of the rebellions that have occurred in Northern Ireland or because one of my ancestors was known as the “hanging judge?”

My grandchildren are third-generation German-Americans. Should they be banned from the United States because there were some Germans who allowed the Holocaust to occur?

I have French Persians in my lineage. Should I be banned because my mother’s maiden name was Mansur?

I’m proud to include among my ancestors a grandmother who was a Wyandot Indian. The Native Americans were here first. Should all of the Americans who are not indigenous to this wonderful land of ours be expelled?

What happened to our love for our fellow man?

Patsy Lynch

Waco

As a side not, fellow Baptist blogger Mark Osler – a Baylor University law prof – also responded to Schrader on his blog here.

Another Schrader response was published a few days later:

Back and forth

In a Nov. 20 letter in response to my Nov. 7 letter, Patsy Lynch said she is Irish Catholic, and her grandchildren are third-generation German-Americans with French Persian relatives. She said her grandmother was a Wyandot Indian.

I have never heard of anyone from French, Catholic, French Persian or any kind of Indian heritage hijacking planes to fly into buildings and killing innocent people or shooting up people on a military base.

I am Czech and German, and I don’t think about blowing up buildings or shooting innocent people at any time.

People from the Middle East just don’t like us, and that includes you.

Diane Schrader

Waco

So, I penned a pithy response to Schrader the other night while watching a West Wing re-run.  Here is what was published:

Nuge-like bigotry

Has letter writer Diane Schrader become the Trib’s go-to gal when this paper feels the need to present a bigoted perspective? Would the Trib print letters that expressed similar bigoted sentiments toward other groups of people, say Hispanics or African-Americans? I think not.

If the Trib is going to commit itself to the bigotry business on a weekly basis, perhaps you should consider bringing back Ted Nugent’s column.

Aaron Weaver

Waco

My letter was um, just a bit edited to say the least.  I was not advocating that the paper bring back The Nuge.  Here’s a version of what I think I submitted since I apparently didn’t save the original.

Has Diane Schrader become the Trib’s go-to gal when this paper feels th need to present a bigoted perspective?  Would the Trib publish letters that expressed similar bigoted sentiments towards other groups of people, say Hispanics or African-Americans?  I thin not.

If the Trib is going to commit itself to the bigotry business on a weekly basis, perhaps you should consider bringing back The Nuge who at least had an entertaining quality.  Better yet, Dump Diane, find a few fresh voices and quit facilitating bigotry under the guise of a back-and-forth.

There it is.  $5 says Ms. Schrader calls me a Godless something-or-another and damns me to hell in a handbasket before next week.  Funny.  Now that my third ever letter to the editor submission made it into print, I would like to announce my retirement from letter-to-the-editor-writing!