John McPherson’s April 3 “Close To Home” cartoon depicted convicts happily dancing to the theme song from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. What’s wrong with this picture? A thesis could be written answering that question. Some quick observations: 1) The inhumanity, injustice and overuse of incarceration in this country is not an amusing topic. 2) The convicts in the cartoon are dressed in chain gang stripes (rather than orange prison jumpsuits) — a uniform that has, I submit, become a shallow prison stereotype. 3) The convicts are all white, therefore not representative of the high proportion of people of color in prison populations.
I refer readers to an archived New Yorker article from March 3, 2021, entitled “An Artist on How He Survived the Chain Gang” by Winfred Rembert. Please take a look, and read it if you dare — even if you only view the first page, which shows a mass of Black men in striped prison uniforms. I quote from Erin I. Kelly from the beginning of a background explanation of the article: “On March 31st, the artist Winfred Rembert died, at the age of seventy-five. He was born in 1945 and grew up in Cuthbert, Georgia, where he picked cotton as a child. As a teenager, he got involved in the civil-rights movement and was arrested in the aftermath of a demonstration. He later broke out of jail, survived a near-lynching, and spent seven years in prison, where he was forced to labor on chain gangs.”
The brutality of the chain gang is not for the faint of heart. In 1976, from a train window, I saw a chain gang whacking away at rocks under the broiling sun. All of the men were black. I’ll never forget it. How many white men labor on chain gangs?
Margaret Richardson
White River Junction
Much of the discussion around the projects on Taft’s Flat for 18 units of low-income housing and increased space for The Haven’s shelter services has revolved around the issue of other towns not doing what some deem to be their fair share. This is not the issue. The issue is that housing is an overwhelming problem in both Hartford and the Upper Valley, and these projects are critical to addressing the issue.
Instead of saying, why Hartford? Let’s say, why not Hartford? Hartford is a good place to live. Why put up barriers to living here just because other towns may have made other choices? Why not feel pride in Hartford that we care about everyone, that we can welcome people who have had hard times and want to move on with their lives?
We welcomed The Haven many years ago, and they have done a remarkable job providing shelter and services to those facing housing challenges. That showed compassion, understanding and foresight on the part of our town leaders at that time. I believe that these traits still exist in the town and in its leadership. We need to make sure that the negative attacks on this project don’t obscure who we really are.
One way to look at this is to ask, if we didn’t have Twin Pines and The Haven in Hartford, how many homeless people would we have? I would guess, a lot more than we have now.
Ask yourself how you felt when you first had your own housing. Mine was tiny with access to a bathroom through the closet, but I felt that I had crossed some threshold into maturity. How much more momentous must this be for those who have experienced housing insecurity. I want to live in a town that can be part of making that happen.
Both Twin Pines and The Haven have long track records in the Upper Valley. Both organizations do a good job. I urge the Planning Commission to approve these sorely needed projects.
Leslie Black
White River Junction
The American people are being hosed at the pump. It’s time to end oil subsidies that benefit shareholders and invest in green energy that benefits America’s young people.
Like other low-income Americans, we college students are financially struggling to fill our gas tanks with the recent 55.4% increase in fuel prices reported by the American Automobile Association. Meanwhile, CNBC reported the price per barrel decreased by 8%. ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Exxon Mobil saw profit increases of 1,400%, 184% and 57%, respectively, last year over pre-COVID profits. Price gouging at the pump is unacceptable for the most profitable corporations and the most heavily tax-subsidized industry in the United States.
Conservative estimates put U.S. direct tax subsidies to the fossil fuel industry at approximately $20 billion per year. Exxon Mobil receives one of the largest tax subsidies ($4 billion a year) and has reported second-quarter earnings of $44.9 billion for this fiscal year. Shareholders of Exxon Mobil are filling their wallets while taxpayers are struggling to fill their gas tanks.
Fuel industry subsidies were created to lower the cost of fossil fuel production and incentivize new domestic energy sources, not increase the profits of shareholders. It’s time we end fuel industry tax subsidies and invest in new green energy sources for the future. Demand an increase in solar tax credits and incentives for mitigating climate change that benefits the American people.
It’s time to free the American people from their dependency on oil and invest in our future.
Alex Collins
Monroe
This letter was written by the Sociology 450 class (Law and Public Policy for Change) at Franklin Pierce University.
How about a postcard to our governors and Washington politicians on April 22 in honor of Earth Day? Simply ask them to “TAKE GLOBAL WARMING SERIOUSLY!”
This is not being political; this is letting them know that most of us are concerned and would like to see some action and support to make huge and difficult changes.
Nancy Wightman
Cornish
I hope the town of Enfield approves zoning for the eight new apartments proposed along the rail trail. Really looking forward to paying $3,000 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. Finally, a solution to our housing situation!
David Cooper
Hartland