Well, really, this is to Mr. David Mosby regarding his comments in his piece, “America sets the stage for violence.”

I always make a point of reading Mr. Mosby’s commentaries, most of which I find extremely stimulating, whether I agree with the viewpoint or not. He has shown that he is capable of sensitivity and intelligence, and he has shown that he possesses a capacity for the broader scope of things.

I really can’t see that in this piece, however, and I am disappointed. I really don’t understand how this piece is supposed to help anyone. It seems to be purely inflammatory, defeatist and unconstructive. I have to assume, Mr. Mosby, that you will take pride in knowing that you helped play a part in setting the stage that you talk about.

Mr. Mosby states that America is guilty of reckless neglect toward its poor people, particularly people of color.

I am devastated by the current trend to be as tunnel-visioned toward issues as the government and the “dominant ethnic group” is accused of being.

No one wants to hear anyone attempting to defend either of these groups. I won’t either, in spite of the huge numbers of people that belong to these groups who are not bigoted, white supremacists.

The incident involving Brandy Lilly in Atlanta terrifies and sickens me. It also reminds me of the young woman in New York who was viciously and laboriously murdered under the watchful eyes of dozens of witnesses who did nothing what- soever before, during or after to assist her.

Unfortunately, this is unrelated because, to the best of my knowledge, she was white.

I find it especially tragic that Mr. Mosby did not go into any further detail about this crime. Such as, what was the response of Ms. Lilly’s family and friends, not to mention the people of Atlanta, to the witnesses who become, by their inaction, accomplices to this crime? The omission implies that we should assume that all the witnesses were white and unmoved by the scene.

This omission also implies that absolutely no one cares about this crime but three young black men who heroically tried to defend her and protect her. At least, no white people or police care.

Is this fair and open-minded? I myself grew up in a larger Iowa town where all the parents of teen-age girls were terrified that their daughters would ever need to call upon the sheriff’s department for assistance, because a certain deputy or two had a habit of taking young women ‘safely’ home the long way, whether they wanted to or not.

If you could tell me what race is exempt from assholes and idiots, I would certainly appreciate it. I want to go live with them. What laws do we lack that will force small-minded bigots and idiots to think and behave the way we want them to?

We can’t legislate common sense, social enlightenment or social concern. These things come from the people themselves.

What are the laws that will make the welfare workers care enough to do their jobs? Are we really trying to teach our children that we can force or scare people into caring about people?

The white supremacist and the militant factions operate this way, not me and mine. Their solution is to straighten up or else; they say do it their way now or we’ll find ourselves in the middle of a very ugly civil war, and they won’t even hesitate to blow up our children.

It doesn’t even matter what the issue is, because ultimately there are too many. How many more laws do we need? And what is the point if you don’t believe that there is anyone to enforce them?

The only people who can enforce them are us. We already have laws that can work for us, and we have the people, too.

It breaks my heart that there are people who insist on wanting so bad to be martyrs that they have to turn everything into a ‘my side vs. your side’ issue.

I am already on ‘your’ side, because it’s my side, too.

Audrae Arndt

Senior

English