Stand up against evil
Not only do I think it is completely wrong to separate families and deny them due process (as our president demanded on Twitter), I think Arkansas has the unique chance to stand up against this evil as an entire state. We can be on the right side of history if Gov. Asa Hutchinson will be courageous enough to stand up for the defenseless. I am urging him to not allow Little Rock Air Force Base to become a minor detention facility.
As a Christian, I will end with this: "If it doesn't look like love, if it doesn't look like Jesus of Nazareth, it cannot be claimed to be Christian."
SARAH MELBY
Helena
Address teachers' pay
Last week, the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research issued a report on teacher salaries statewide. One of the most striking findings was the staggering difference in starting salaries for teachers. In fact, there is an almost $16,000 gap between the lowest and highest starting salaries across Arkansas.
ForwARd Arkansas, an organization committed to helping every Arkansas student graduate prepared for success in college and the workplace, recently hosted a series of conversations across the state to explore strategies to increase equity and drive enhanced educational outcomes for all students.
One of the top priorities that emerged from these discussions is the need to cultivate a strong pipeline of teachers and administrators with the skills and commitment to lead our schools and drive a culture of innovation and academic excellence. We must tackle this with the recognition of the realities facing many of our communities, where investment in educators has been a financial challenge. The vast discrepancy in starting salaries for teachers is just one of the many equity obstacles we face.
While starting salary is just one of many factors that influence where a teacher seeks to begin and grow a career, it is an important one that can impact educational outcomes for our schools and students. We support a statewide solution that would close this large gap in starting salaries for teachers around the state as a step toward ensuring that all Arkansas schools can access high-quality teachers who are dedicated to students' achievements.
SUSAN HARRIMAN
Little Rock
Susan Harriman is executive director of ForwARd Arkansas.
A cogent assessment
James Pardew's Sunday guest column, "Capable political leaders needed," was one of the most cogent and clear-eyed assessments of the disastrous administration of The Current Occupant that the paper has run.
Pardew's depth of experience as a diplomat for presidents of both parties qualifies him to offer concerns for the consequences of incompetence, negligence and intentional evisceration of the internal workings of the government, especially on our ability to conduct coherent foreign policy. We would be well served to stop behaving like lemmings and take his concern for the paucity of leadership to heart.
Oh, for another Cincinnatus to leave his plow in the field and serve his country's call!
CHARLES T. CROW
Little Rock
Still a nation of laws?
Lost in the cacophony regarding immigration is a much bigger issue. That issue is whether or not America will continue to be a nation of laws.
One of the things that sets democratic nations apart from others is the rule of law. We now have two sets of laws when it comes to immigration, federal and state (sanctuary cities). The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution states that unless overturned by the Supreme Court, federal law will always trump state law.
It has been said that "there can be no law at all if there are privileged exceptions." When Congress doesn't like a law, it starts carving out those exceptions, hence eroding the rule of law. America is in the mess it is in solely because members of Congress, for the sake of political expediency, won't work together to change laws that clearly are not working, or ones they don't like.
The framers of the Constitution established the three branches of government for a reason. Members of Congress have forgotten what their role is. They make the laws, while the executive branch is charged with enforcing the laws. Congressional members and the president need to stop parading themselves in front of the TV cameras, stop texting, and stop speaking on the floor of the House and Senate with rhetoric that they think will surface as soundbites on the nightly news.
As voters, we should expect that America's laws be enforced, and we should demand that the House and Senate not adjourn until they come up with a comprehensive immigration plan. They don't deserve to be paid until then.
RUTH M. WALDON
Little Rock
Make the right choice
Since I was young, I've been inspired by the bravery of those who participated in the Underground Railroad, or hid Jews from Nazis, or kept Japanese Americans from being rounded up and taken to internment camps. I've imagined what it would be like to be taken away from my family, and be forced to cut my hair, wear new clothes and speak a new language, as so many Indian children were.
I heard the other day that Arkansas is being considered for a detainment center for immigrant children. Whether the kids are there alone or with their families, indefinite detainment camps are concentration camps, and they have no place in Arkansas or in our country.
I now seem to be actually facing the hypothetical question I put to myself throughout my life: What will I do in the face of injustice and atrocities? My answer is: I will resist. I will write to my governor, Asa Hutchinson, to let him know this is not OK. If he does OK detention centers, I will protest and I will do everything in my power to make sure he is never elected to public office again.
As Americans and Arkansans, we have an opportunity to be on the right side of history, like the heroes I admired throughout my childhood. We have the opportunity to stand for peace and justice, if we only will. Make the right choice.
MEG STAIRES
Fayetteville
Editorial on 06/28/2018