On helping refugees
Our culture is often more fearful than courageous, where many people struggle with putting up barriers instead of getting to know others who are different. This is especially true for how many people tend to treat refugees and immigrants. I applaud Gov. Asa Hutchinson's recent decision to continue a resettlement program in our state, despite pushback from his own party, including Sens. Trent Garner and Gary Stubblefield.
I've had several impactful experiences with refugees through church work, graduate school, and mission trips. I recall a young woman who fled Eritrea with her three children after their father was murdered by the military. She wanted more than anything to provide a better life for her kids, and worked hard as a day laborer to fund their college education. I also remember working with a family who fled Iraq as religious minorities. They settled in Houston and used their cultural background to help other "new" American citizens from the region excel in public school and GED classes.
These kinds of families can not only give such a positive example to live by, but would also make for wonderful neighbors. America is often described as a land of opportunity. Surely refugee resettlement is something that can be a bipartisan issue to help those who need it.
BILLY McMAHON
Cammack Village
Allow trial testimony
Apparently our two senators would rather collect their pieces of silver from President Trump and Mitch McConnell instead of voting to allow testimony during the impeachment trial. Why is the Senate so afraid to allow John Bolton and others to testify? Are they so afraid of the truth about this president that they would do anything to save this man and his presidency?
As more and more information comes out about Mr. Trump and Rudy Giuliani's involvement in Ukraine and the president's misuse of power, the citizens of Arkansas and the nation deserve to hear and see the truth given under oath, and if it means the removal of this president, so be it.
If our senators are just going along with the crowd, what does that say about us? Hopefully, they will listen to those that want to testify, and cast their votes based on facts and not because they were pressured to vote differently.
CHARLES MAYS
Rogers
Not much changed
Regarding Karen Martin's recent column, "Enacting a new form of segregation," do we really think "we had come such a long way"?
RON SHEFFIELD
Little Rock
Of court, not nation
In the broadcast media there have been numerous individuals--members of both parties, holders of many appointed and elected offices, and media hosts--who have referred to the person who is the "Chief Justice of the United States."
There is no such position.
SAM HIGHSMITH
Little Rock
Vice president missed
In a recent editorial, the staff referred to Democratic Republican Thomas Jefferson serving under Federalist John Adams as the only example of this bad idea of having a president and vice president of different parties. They did cover the example of Democrat Andrew Johnson briefly serving with Republican Abraham Lincoln under the rubric of the very ephemeral Union Party ticket of 1864.
However, they ignored the best example, the first popularly elected vice president, John C. Calhoun, who not only served under John Q. Adams of the short-lived National Republican Party, but Calhoun, one of the true founders of the modern Democrat Party, also served under Democrat Andrew Jackson. He thus was not only one of only three vice presidents who served under a president of a different party, he is one of only two (including George Clinton under Jefferson and Madison) to serve under two different presidents, the only one to serve under presidents of two different parties, and the only vice president to resign over policy differences with his president (Jackson).
He went on to a long career in the Senate as the face of the Democrat Party, and while he did not live to see the Civil War, his lamentable racist attitude continued to inform Democrat politics for generations to come.
KARL T. KIMBALL
Little Rock
Have a duty to unite
I watched the pomp and circumstance of the congressional celebration as articles of impeachment were signed by Nancy Pelosi--with souvenir pens. Then there was a formal procession from the House chambers to the Senate chambers. The purpose of these acts is to impeach a duly elected sitting president. I was greatly saddened. There is such hate in our politics that it has tarnished and shaken our country's foundation.
Let me point out to all that there is simply an inversion of the letters between united and untied. There are folks in Congress who are working, diligently, to untie this country at a time when we should be working to unite this country!
If we love the United States of America, we have a duty to unite behind the Constitution, not untie it.
JEAN RIISE LEFFLER
Conway
Must expose the truth
Donald Trump sent Rudy Giuliani out to dig up dirt on Joe Biden. The Trump theory appears to be that behind every man there must be corruption. This is self-admission, of course.
I believe Trump knows that behind the glossy surface of his wealth is a foundation of crime and corruption. He also knows that his taxes will expose the truth to the lies that permeate every aspect of his lifestyle. Trump is a dishonest, unscrupulous, dishonorable fraud.
P.L. GUSTAFSON
Hot Springs Village
Editorial on 01/17/2020