DEAR EDITOR:
Recently I wrote a letter to your paper complaining about a
Cynthia Walker column where she accused local teachers of
teaching
”
Hatred of America.
”
DEAR EDITOR:
Recently I wrote a letter to your paper complaining about a Cynthia Walker column where she accused local teachers of teaching “Hatred of America.”
Part of my complaint was a slightly tongue-in-cheek musing of what it would be like if such a person were in charge of what Bill Maher calls “Patriotic Correctness.”
However, another part of my letter was a serious challenge that has gone unacknowledged.
Ms. Walker accused members of the local educational community of heinous behavior: unfair bias such as racism and sexism as well as allegiance to communism (behavior that is illegal under the California Education Code).
I think Ms. Walker needs to prove her statements and accusations or retract them immediately. If what she said was accurate, without embellishment, she owes the names, dates and classrooms to her readers. She is journalist, it is her job. We should be the ones to decide whether these occurences carry the weight that she is trying to give them.
If what she said wasn’t true, or was simply a frivolously repeated rumor (as I alluded in my letter, and she failed to respond), then she is simply lying to advance a personal political agenda and should resign (or be fired, as I’m sure she’d like to see happen to those teachers.)
Tossing statements out into the air like Cynthia did is irresponsible unless she is prepared to back them up. Maybe she doesn’t like the free exchange of ideas that occurs in a good classroom. She still doesn’t have the right to bear false witness.
Bill C. Jones, Gilroy
Submitted Monday, April 21, to ed****@****ic.com
