Saturday, November 29, 2014

Letters to the editor: Nov. 21

Journal and Courier


A Confederate flag, freedom of speech and the whiners

Wow! Front page of the J&C: A Confederate flag in the window of someone's personal dwelling. Seems like nothing else is going on in the county, town, state, country or world.

Of course, it's in the People's Republic of West Lafayette, where the thought police and the easily offended seem to be plenty. Please come across the river to see more Confederate flags displayed; there are many in Lafayette.

Shame on the J&C for outing this person's address and creating more of a problem than the one caused by busybodies and the thin-skinned folks who reported the flag. Try calling Lafayette Police Department with that nonsense; ain't nobody got time for that here.

There are a lot of symbols that personally offend me, but I don't begrudge people their right to display, wear and believe in them. Just don't force me to display, wear or believe in them. The Confederate flag is not just about slavery or racism; I've seen black people wear the Confederate flag when I lived down South.

When I read the local paper, I want to see real news, not a drummed up controversy that puts a student renter at risk for reprisal and appeases the whiners.

Andi Williams
Lafayette


J&C making new rather than reporting it on flag

It seems to me that the Journal & Courier is being more divisive than trying to help what they consider a problem.

On the front page of Thursday's paper, with a poor photograph of a Confederate flag, the J&C makes news rather than reporting it. Just how many people called the J&C to complain about the flag? The young African-American interviewed said it personally didn't bother him. Let's see if we can make something out of nothing.

Also in an earlier article on the breakdown of race where it was stated the population in Tippecanoe County was 84 percent white and left the rest of the breakdown out. The inference was that the remaining percent was mostly black. In fact, the Hispanic and Latino population, as is the Asian population, is larger than the black population. Why not tell all of the story and not try to slant the article.

Jon Sexson
Lafayette

http://www.jconline.com/story/opinion/readers/2014/11/20/letters-editor-nov/70023496/