To the Editor:
Re “No, I Don’t Want to Protest,” by Pamela Paul (column, June 21):
I usually get pleasure from Pamela Paul’s well-expressed and proud contrarian views. Nevertheless, on this column she not solely declares, nearly boastfully, that she fortunately avoids protest participation, but additionally appears to disparage the worth and effectiveness of protests.
Protesting, in spite of everything, is a central a part of America’s historic legacy. As Ms. Paul acknowledges, “we dwell in a rustic born of protest.” Was not the Revolutionary Warfare our grand protest in opposition to Britain’s oppressive colonial rule?
My guess is that Ms. Paul disapproves of the latest pupil encampments protesting Israel’s aggressive actions in Gaza. (I don’t, by the best way.) However what does she consider the sit-ins and marches led by Martin Luther King and others within the Fifties and Nineteen Sixties in opposition to Jim Crow within the South? Or the unions that organized the motion for higher pay and employees’ rights within the Nineteen Thirties? Or the ladies who led the demonstrations within the early twentieth century for girls’s proper to vote?
It’s all nicely and good that Ms. Paul chooses to not be a part of protesters — that’s, after all, her proper. She ought to take pains, although, to respect and even perhaps be impressed by the earnest Individuals who resolve for ethical and/or political causes to exhibit for causes that will very nicely produce a greater world.
Robert Gangi
New York
The author is director of the Police Reform Organizing Venture.
To the Editor:
I’ve been ready for somebody to name out the uninformed, typically venomous and largely absurd protests which have been swirling on campuses and past, and I thank Pamela Paul for doing so.
I used to be a campus radical myself lo these a few years in the past, and in my fervor, by no means questioned Chairman Mao and the Cultural Revolution; it’s possible I knew nothing about it besides that it was a revolution, so what might be unhealthy?
Ms. Paul’s column jogged my memory of a cherished New Yorker cartoon: Dad is sitting in his straightforward chair and explaining to his teenage son, “In fact there was intercourse and medicines after I was your age, however it was intercourse and medicines about ending the conflict.”
Norman Levin
Teaneck, N.J.
To the Editor:
I don’t need to attend protests both. I are inclined to have social nervousness in crowds. I’m conflict-averse and concern being the goal of somebody’s anger or rage.
Nevertheless, simply because I don’t like one thing, doesn’t imply I’ve some particular perception into whether or not or not that exact exercise is legitimate, significant or productive for others.
Whereas I agree change begins inside — resembling sitting quietly in reflection, as Pamela Paul recommends — I additionally acknowledge that consciousness is a primary step; subsequent comes motion. If not protest, then what is recommended for individuals who want to cease seeing their tax {dollars} fund battle that they don’t assist? I admire the necessity for social critique on how we search to create change, however I’m greatly surprised by the suggestion that any collective effort is cringey for its conformity.
So, whereas I don’t protest, I do assist those that do. I assist and take part in divestment efforts and boycotting problematic corporations. I donate cash. I proceed contacting my representatives and sharing info in hopes of training others on the necessity for Palestinian liberation. I’m decided to do all that I can to forestall the lack of extra life.
Jamie Labonosky
Milton, Mass.
‘Stop Bashing Joe Biden’
To the Editor:
I get fed up with the fixed information articles and opinion items in The Instances urging President Biden to step down because the Democratic candidate, all due to a poor exhibiting on a latest debate stage.
He had a foul evening on June 27, however that doesn’t imply he’s incapable of working the nation, which he has been doing nicely for the final three and a half years. Selecting one other candidate at this late date can be a dangerous transfer for the Democratic Celebration.
The Instances must be publishing extra information and opinion items in regards to the risks that Donald Trump poses for our nation, his lies on the presidential debate, his supporters’ Project 2025 playbook and his traitorous conduct on Jan. 6.
Stop bashing Joe Biden, and provides extra press to the evils {that a} second Trump time period would carry to the nation.
Susanne Skyrm
Vermillion, S.D.
‘An Act of Civic Solidarity’: Why Voting Issues
To the Editor:
Re “Why I Won’t Vote,” by Matthew Walther (Opinion visitor essay, nytimes.com, July 4):
Mr. Walther argues that voting is “pointless” as a result of elections are by no means determined by a single vote; as a substitute, voting is merely “expressive,” like cheering on a favourite sports activities crew, with no impact on the result.
However even when that’s true, what’s incorrect with being “expressive”? Certainly, Mr. Walther embraces the idea, arguing, “If voting is expressive, then the identical is true, absolutely, of not voting.”
What, then, does he specific by not voting? It seems to be cynicism and despair. Mr. Walther believes that voting “can not change the truth that financialization, environmental spoliation, drug dependancy, the hollowing out of the general public sector and the subsuming of nearly each side of human existence into reality-augmenting digital media are making this nation an uninhabitable wasteland.”
Failing to vote, nevertheless, “expresses” nothing significant about these issues. And the way else does Mr. Walther suggest to unravel them?
Voting is an act of civic solidarity — with fellow residents and with those that marched, fought and died for the proper to vote. That’s a bond value affirming, regardless of the vote rely could also be.
Stuart Altschuler
New York
To the Editor:
The convoluted argument for not voting in Matthew Walther’s essay is appalling, as it could logically result in meaningless elections and eradicate democracy itself if everybody have been to undertake the same place.
Whereas I agree {that a} single vote in most elections is unlikely to make a distinction in who’s elected, the method of considering via the particular person, insurance policies and celebration that one needs to assist is of nice worth in itself. Additional, the various debates that people have as they evaluate opinions earlier than an election are influential in what’s politically acceptable.
Merely put, voting is greater than filling out a poll.
David Brown
Montreal
Serving to Migrants in New York
To the Editor:
Kudos on “All the Shelter a City School Can Provide,” by Bliss Broyard (Opinion visitor essay, June 30).
That is the story everywhere in the metropolis: public faculty mother and father and academics stepping up for our latest New Yorkers, homes of worship petitioning to function shelters, group teams offering meals and clothes and organizing in opposition to the town coverage of 30- and 60-day evictions.
Because the article makes clear, this eviction coverage is disruptive and infrequently re-traumatizing, and it saps the resilience and dedication of tens of 1000’s of immigrants and asylum seekers to be taught English, get job coaching and go to work to strengthen our financial system.
We desperately must fund the teams offering help, increase the price range of recipient faculties and broaden capability for work authorization and employment. The long run financial system of the town is determined by it.
Ruth W. Messinger
New York
The author, a social justice guide and an immigrant middle volunteer, was the Manhattan borough president from 1990 to 1997 and the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York in 1997.