Letters to the Editor

Readers write about the US military and humanitarian aid, Big Oil and funding for alternative energy, laws against low-rider pants, West Papua and Indonesian democracy, and the effects of free trade on Mexican farmers.

from the June 26, 2007 edition

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To the US military: Leave humanitarian aid to NGOs

In response to the June 22 article, "Military focuses on development in Africa": I have some concerns. Even though the concept of military humanitarian aid may be intuitively appealing, it is redundant and can actually be harmful. There already is a set of organizations that are focusing on diplomacy and development. They are the dozens of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that have been busy in Africa working on diminishing the "root causes of terrorism" for the past 50 years or so.

Humanitarian aid involves complex strategies. Since the US military has little experience and probably few strategists, errors are likely. When civilians in Africa see armed men and women in military uniforms providing humanitarian aid, it sends the wrong message.

For years, NGO vehicles have prominently displayed the "no arms on board" stickers as they drove, mostly unchallenged, through contested areas. The presence of "armed aid" changes this dynamic. It puts humanitarian workers at risk. The US military should stick to defense and training and leave humanitarian aid to the pros. (I was a humanitarian aid worker in Africa for six years.)

Lynn Austin
Campbell, Calif.

Big Oil should fund alternative energy

Regarding the June 22 article, "In quest to go green, US firms retool car fleets": Oil companies and their political allies in Congress managed to prevent the current energy bill from requiring them to pay their fair share of fees to the government for drilling in US waters.

Seeing how their margin of escape is growing much smaller on matters such as fees, maybe the oil companies should seriously consider contributing a lot more funding toward alternative energy projects. For instance, the hybrid school bus could save a lot of fuel as well as expense for school districts. But the districts could use a little help buying them. A factory is producing the buses. How about Big Oil stepping up to the plate? Cough it up, guys, before Congress makes you do it.

Robert Merritt
Marion, Ohio

Antisaggin' laws are discriminatory

Kudos to the writer of the June 18 article, "In Louisiana town, wearing low-rider pants may cost you," about the saggin' fashion phenomenon. Shame on those who waste the public's time legislating against this wacky form of rebellious self-expression. These young men have merely accomplished the same thing as generations before them by sporting a style of dress that baffles, enrages, and most important, clearly delineates them from their elders. Two historical references: pegged pants and bell-bottoms.

Passing laws against this droopy fashion statement is just another means of harassing and marginalizing young African-Americans, similar to the way some bars and nightclubs in my city permit whites to enter wearing any raggedy old baseball cap with a curved brim but turn away African-Americans with spotless flat-brimmed caps for "improper hip-hop dress."

And are these same self-righteous, predominantly male protectors of morality in Louisiana and elsewhere passing ordinances about young white ladies going around scantily clad, as I'm sure many do? Are preachers holding rallies to get girls to stop wearing short tops and supertight low-rider pants? Probably not – that's good, clean, all-American titillation, as opposed to the "indecent exposure" of boxer shorts.

Call this antisaggin' crusade what it is: racist, sexist hypocrisy.

Joel Knepp
Columbus, Ohio

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