I am a
”
Mexican-American
”
veteran, one of 15 members of my family to serve in the military
in times of war and peace. The most recent member of my family to
serve came back home in March 2005 after her second tour of duty in
Iraq.
Editor,
I am a “Mexican-American” veteran, one of 15 members of my family to serve in the military in times of war and peace. The most recent member of my family to serve came back home in March 2005 after her second tour of duty in Iraq.
As such, I feel it is my duty to respond to an article that appeared in the Free Lance, “Alleged double-voter harassed by hate mail from anonymous resident.”
Maria Araujo was never convicted of any crime. She was simply given the wrong voting ballot. Having worked for John Hodges for about eight to ten years during every election, I have seen some mistakes made, but all have been corrected. This one mistake has fallen through the safety net in every election. There was only one man that walked on this earth that was perfect, and he was crucified. Are we above that?
The person that mailed that hate-racist letter must not know that meaning of democracy.
For almost a year I have taken many, many trips to the local library to refresh my mind on democracy. There are three books at the library that I read:
According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, the meaning of democracy is “A state of society characterized by tolerance toward minorities, freedom of expression and respect for the essential dignity and worth of the human individual with equal opportunity for each to develop freely his fullest capacity in a cooperative community.”
The U.S. Constitutional Amendment states that “hate” and “fighting words” are not under the protection of free speech
The California State Constitution refers to a citizen’s right to petition. A voting ballot is a form of petition.
Yet there are some people in this community that disagree with the three references I have cited, that have convicted a person in the court of public opinion, the news media, contrary to the findings from a judge in a court of law.
In a time of war, any violation of the above-mentioned issues would be considered treason. Where are the guardians of democracy? Where are the elected politicians who took an oath “To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic?”
It seems that some people in America are so full of hate that democracy is ignored. Those that make racist remarks are no better than those involved in ethnic cleansing in other parts of this world.
Louie Sumaya, Hollister
