Gun-free America
I favor outlawing the private ownership of all operating firearms in America: only the police and military should have access to firearms, and even that access should be limited, just as the police in England carry no firearms and yet fare very well. Even when used to protect one's life or property, lethal weapons are not as effective as nonlethal ones.Though the goal of eliminating the private ownership of operating firearms in America may seem at present to be unattainable, I believe that it will eventually be reached, and we should do all we can now to hasten its realization. America will then be a far, far safer country.
Are there any sympathetic websites? How about bumper stickers?
can be found in our special edition entitled "America on a Hair Trigger"
Also see WFP's extensive List of Progressive Sites.
Plane Noise
My ears are starting to ring. They're continuously hurting and ringing. I find that if people talk loudly, music is turned up or an airplane flies overhead that the pain and echo increase. I only started to notice this in the past 3 weeks while I've been taking a break from working elsewhere in the City and have been spending a lot of time at home on Beacon Hill. Since I moved here two years ago I have been aware of the planes flying in a straight line day and night through the center of Beacon Hill. Only since I've been around the neighborhood during the day for the past three weeks have I noticed what kind of volume we're talking about and the various routes that are taken which affect this area.Not only is there a steady stream of planes taking off and landing from SeaTac Airport to our south, but more and more I've noticed the smaller planes that use Renton and Boeing Fields. The small planes and helicopters that cross over Beacon Hill usually fly much lower than their SeaTac counterparts and make a starker noise than 747s and other jumbojets. When the East-West traffic from Boeing Field and Renton field are added in to the mix of North-South traffic what eventually comes out is a symphony of loud, harmful noise which wakes us up, is damaging my (and probably others') hearing, keeps us from leaving our homes and makes this possibly quiet community and its parks difficult to enjoy.
Other airports around the country, such as the John Wayne Airport in San Diego, California, have responded to citizen requests for curfews on flight operations (between 10pm and 6am) as well as made attempts at steeper take-offs and landings and adjusted flight paths. None of this is being considered for Seattle and it should be. Though citizen groups such as the North Beacon Hill Council have been meeting with officials from the various airports and the FAA for years, the situation just seems to keep getting worse rather than better. With expected growth in our communities in the coming years and the increased airport traffic that that will surely bring we ought to be taking steps now to insure that our future is more healthy than our present. To this end all possible steps to mitigate the effects of airport noise and air pollution should be taken into account and acted upon. SeaTac, the FAA, Boeing Field (KCIA) and Renton Field need to stop side-stepping the issues. To learn more about what one group is doing on this issue, please visit the website of the Seattle Council on Airport Affairs at http://www.scn.org/activism/scaa/
I Miss Boycott Quarterly
Too bad Boycott Quarterly will stop publication [see Free Press Mar/Apr issue]. The thing I enjoyed about BQ was its authoritative guide to corporate America, which gave me insight on what to buy and who to buy it from. Where will I be able to get this type of information now? Can the Washington Free Press do more of this type of journalism?
When I arrived at the Sheraton Hotel, I found there was a $45 charge to participate, unless one had applied for a scholarship in advance. The flyer I saw advertising the event did not mention a fee, however, and neither did the PR in Seattle's local Black press. I protested the exorbitant admission charge to a Chamber of Commerce representative, but to no avail: fork over $45 or no dialogue.
I didn't want the morning to be a total waste, so I began passing out a Freedom Socialist Party announcement about an upcoming May Day event celebrating the centennial of African American hero Paul Robeson. I thought people would be interested. John Hope Franklin, the main speaker at the dialogue, had written an excellent article for the latest issue of Emerge magazine about Robeson's achievements.
However, after event organizers got a look at my leaflet, they apparently objected to my politics and those of Robeson, who was an unapologetic socialist and civil rights leader. They dispatched hotel security to escort me out of the building.
In order to get anywhere on the issue of racism, we have to discuss how it intersects with class. But this ain't going to happen at $45 a head!
An Elite Sham
A serious, productive discussion of institutional racism in this country is hundreds of years overdue. But the President's Initiative on Race, whose April 13 Seattle session the downtown media covered, is far too exclusive to do any good.
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Contents this page were published in the May/June, 1998 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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