Choose peace, not violence
Violence takes many forms and has many fathers. Anger, ideology, greed, desperation and mental illness can all drive people to commit the oldest and most repugnant sins known to man. Abhorring violence is natural and a testament to humanity’s decency. Violence, though, is insidious because of its ability to pervert our reactions into a destructive sense of fear. Widespread fear thrives on intolerance, poisons our public discourse, and makes us less thoughtful and more reactionary. Fear never solves our problems. It promotes the kind of solutions that offer a temporary sense of satisfaction but are always remembered with shame.
Throughout our history, America has been beset by the scourge of fear. During one of those moments, crusading journalist Edward R. Murrow pushed back against our worst tendencies by reminding us that “no one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices” and “we are not descended from fearful men.” I was heartened to see Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina make a similar point recently. “During anxious times,” she explained, “it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices… we must resist that temptation.” The scourge of violence has motivated some to curse the darkness in our country, but what has that ever solved? Instead, let’s light a candle and work together for a more peaceful and just society.
Matt Darragh
Candidate for State Representative, 170th Legislative District
PFT challengers are radical
In response to an article published on Jan. 13, ‘Taking a Stand.’
William Kenny’s article regarding The Caucus of Working Educators (WE) has several potentially misleading sentences.
“…the city’s largest labor union from 20,000 members a decade ago to 11,500.”
One reason is the growth of charter schools in the city whose teachers cannot be represented by the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT). If charter school teachers want to unionize they must become members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Currently, charter schools comprise about one-third of all public school students.
The reason that the professional CB Team has been continuously elected since the 1980s is because they are doing the best job under the laws and budgets that have been created in Harrisburg. The CB Team is winning many court cases but the school district continues to spend taxpayer dollars to fight and continues to lose its appeals.
WE’s ideas are more radical, with highly unlikely and preferable outcomes. One is to have a massive sick-out like the Detroit teachers. Two, they feel they can obtain a retro-pay increase for the past four years. Three, they want the banks to write-off hundreds of millions in school district debt.
Mayer Krain
Modena Park
PFT member
Leadership program is beneficial
Back in the fall, I was notified by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences that it was seeking candidates for its Rural-Urban Leadership program. After reaching out to the program’s director, it became clear that we have people in our communities who would both contribute and benefit to/from this consortium.
I am proud to announce that Cathy Reynolds of Parkwood was named as Philadelphia’s first-ever representative to the RULE program since its inception in 1985. Cathy initially heard about the program via my Facebook page: facebook.com/repmartinawhite.
Currently, there are only 600 alumni of the RULE program statewide. The program is designed to encourage and foster development of adult community leaders from across the state. RULE seeks to explore public issue engagement, interorganizational networking, effective public decision making, strategic design and sustainable relationships.
RULE fellows attend conferences across the state for almost a two-year period. The commitment is time consuming and the fellows are expected to be diligent and participatory. Some of the issues encountered by rural and urban communities alike are introduced into an atmosphere and approach that lends to discussion and sometimes solutions to problems plaguing the state and municipalities alike.
I plan on attending the next RULE meeting in Southeastern Pennsylvania, and although Cathy may be the first Philadelphia participant of RULE, I hope she is not the last. Best of luck to Cathy and all the members of class XIV.
State Rep. Martina White
Parkwood
