Watery Grave
I’d like to correct an error in your Cinequest timeline for 2005 (“Best of the Quest,” Cover Story, Feb. 17). Blanchard Ryan did not bail out on her appearance for the classic, gruesome film Open Water. I was in the audience for her Sunday 10:30am screening and took a few brief notes. Ms. Ryan said she admired people still waiting tables vs. selling real estate or insurance, since they hadn’t given up on the dream and still may have a shot. See you at Cinequest.
Jane Jerome
Martinez
Double Standard?
In “Is White Rap Racist?” (Music Lead,” Feb. 24), Steve Palopoli writes “nerdcore shouldn’t be the only way kids experience hip-hop; there has to be a respect for the history of the music and its roots in the African American experience. Does anyone really disagree with that?”
I disagree. I don’t think anyone would require me to cite much in the way of evidence if I were to assert that many young African Americans have very little interest in, if not outright disdain for, characteristically European-American cultural forms. Yet it seems very unlikely that anyone is going to be publishing any criticisms of African American youth on that basis in any Bay Area print publication. Somehow, European-American youths who enjoy “White rap” are portrayed as under some sort of (moral? aesthetic?) obligation to show what the author apparently deems to be the proper level of respect for African American cultural forms. That sounds an awful lot like a race-based double standard to me, and while it may not necessarily be racist, it definitely is bullshit.
Kevin Riley O’Keefe
San Jose
Tree Chops
Thanks for exposing these Neanderthals and, conversely, the hypocrisy of the rest of us who apparently fantasize that ripe, red meat is picked off trees (My Pig,” Cover Story, Feb. 24).
Judith Shipstad
Los Gatos
Train Wreck
For anything to work, it must involve the police and the community working together. I met a wonderful woman named Bonita Carter-Cox (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Assoc.) at a Victims Rights rally. We decided that we should work together in reaching out to the community.
I learned from a third party that the Freedom Train lost several sponsors and was turned down by other groups. The train that honored a great man with great ideas was short of funds. I volunteered to ask other law enforcement groups for money. Several groups gave money immediately. Then an amazing thing happened: a few groups began spewing messages of hate. They called for a boycott of the Freedom Train.
The Freedom Train was a success. Now there is a call for a boycott of the major fundraiser for the MLK board. Who will suffer the children that count on this money to help with their future? Several council members seem to be honoring the call for the boycott and will not be attending this event. Maybe they should try to help our children before they become gang members, not after.
The SJPOA should pull the endorsement of any politician that does not attend this event. They will have shown what they really think of law enforcement and those good people that want to make a difference.
I would remind those groups that the law enforcement is made up of men and women of all colors. We have come a long ways and we can go further.
Bobby Lopez, former president
Police Officers Assoc.,
From SanJoseInside.com
