OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: We've seen this before | So, about statehood | Time to take a stand

We've seen this before

On March 26, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) signed into law Senate Bill 289, The Medical Ethics and Diversity Act, which grants doctors the right to refuse treatment based on religious or moral objections.

So now doctors who believe white supremacy theories can refuse to treat Jews? Somehow this sounds very familiar ...

GENE REID

Little Rock

So, about statehood

It didn't take long for Democrats in Washington to launch a blatant power grab that would undermine our Constitution and system of government. The House of Representatives recently held hearings on the possibility of admitting the District of Columbia as our nation's 51st state.

The problem is D.C. was never intended to be a state. The Constitution clearly intended D.C. to be a separate, federally independent seat of government. Our founders, including James Madison, specifically warned against the possibility of a state controlling our capital city, saying that putting our federal seat of government under the control of a state would bring "imputation of awe or influence."

So why are Democrats pushing for D.C. statehood? It's simple. They know it will increase their power by giving them a lock on two additional U.S. Senate seats and one additional seat in the House of Representatives. While D.C. statehood supporters would argue that it's about fairness, they're quick to dismiss other potential statehood efforts that make more sense, and aren't questionably unconstitutional, like Puerto Rico.

Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens for more than a century but have been relegated to second-class citizenship. They've fought alongside other Americans in every war since World War I, but cannot vote for their commander-in-chief. They must abide by the laws of Congress, but have no voting representation in Congress. Puerto Ricans have themselves voted to become a state three times in the past decade.

With his new position as ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Congressman Bruce Westerman is uniquely positioned to right this wrong as Puerto Rican statehood legislation makes its way to his committee. If there's going to be a new state added to our union, there's no question it should be Puerto Rico, and not D.C. I trust that our congressional delegation believes the same, and I'm glad Congressman Westerman will be in a position to ensure that happens.

TRENT GARNER

El Dorado

Time to take a stand

Walmart and Tyson, take note.

Dear CEOs of Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines and Equifax: Your corporate headquarters are in Atlanta. Thursday your governor signed into law the most regressive voter suppression act in the nation, a blatant attempt to discourage voting by minorities and poor people, many of them your employees. He did it in front of a painting of a plantation in Wilkes County with six white men surrounding him. No person of color and no woman was in the room. An African American woman, a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, was denied entrance when she knocked on the door and was arrested and perp-walked.

Again, this is the state where your companies are headquartered. Right now is the time for Coca-Cola, Delta, and Equifax to take a stand. Do the right thing and use your influence and resources to oppose this attack on American minorities.

GEORGE McILVAINE

Little Rock

Both untrustworthy

Leslie Rutledge eagerly joined in absurd litigation to overturn a free and fair election. Sarah Sanders amplified Trump's lies and has testified she made up some of her own. Why should either of them ever hold a position of public trust?

RICHARD GAMBEL

Little Rock

Not happening soon

Regarding Mr. DuVall's well-written letter, "We'll come together": I only wish it were so, but it's not going to happen anytime soon. There are too many that profit from keeping us apart. We did come together on that day that lives in infamy. But today, factions such as the so-called elite in their quest for power; Wall Street taking advantage of our Ponzi economic system; the racial divide kept alive by those that profit from it; the forward march of the hammer-and-sickle type with their quest for a power grab which, once established, can never be dislodged; and I won't address the immigration crisis which lets in those that hate us. Many forces are working against us.

We did come together on that day that still lives in my memory. I recall Native American chiefs met to decide if they should participate in the white man's war, and they did. They gave us their warrior attitude with skills such as Code Talk messaging that messed up the enemy's head and, of course, there were our elite bigots who were skeptical if Blacks could measure up. They served magnificently on land, sea and in the air and returned to be welcomed by what? Jim Crow. That really helped bring us together. I wonder which party was behind this.

Our Constitution, up to now, has served us well with protection from an obtrusive government, freedom of and from religion and equal rights for all. It is being chipped away by all sorts of special interests and the more it gets chipped away, the less freedom you are going to have. If you want to be reminded of how precious freedom is, do as I do, let YouTube take you back to Fort McHenry, which inspired our national anthem. Contemplate that. Then, maybe we can all come together.

DONAL B. WRIGHT

Cabot

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