Letters to the editor: School closures, militias

School closure

Civil rights activist, Kimberle Crenshaw, wrote, “Treating different things the same can generate as much an inequality as treating the same things differently.” I thought of this quote after reading Michael Lycklama’s article about the Richmond family, school closure advocates. May I suggest you next give an entire article to one of the single mothers who also testified at the Boise School board meeting? Or the parent of a child with special needs on an IEP plan? Or the working parents whose children are at home learning on their own? I am deeply sorry for the Richmond family’s suspected Covid-19 issues, but I must point out the elephant in the room: privilege. Parents are able to work remotely from home. Privilege. Second home in McCall. Privilege. Haven’t had to go to a grocery store since March. Privilege. The false benevolence of saving Boise’s children via school closure actually shows a powerful disconnect with the reality so many families struggle with on a daily basis. Few are home with reliable technology, internet access, a child who excels online, and all necessities delivered to their front door. School closure is not protecting our children. It is making existing inequalities more glaring.

Katie Richey, Boise

Militias

As burn and loot mobs rampage through cities in the Pacific Northwest, the editors of the Idaho Statesman felt it was necessary to assign reporters to write a long article to warn us about peaceable armed citizens. One might wonder why. Those armed citizens haven’t actually shot anyone, looted any stores, or burned any buildings to the ground.

There’s an easy explanation. The editors are just performing their role during this election season as the public relations team of the Idaho Democratic party. It’s important that they convince voters that the conservative people of Idaho are virulent racists itching to kill at the least provocation.

But it turns out that one of the safest places to be in this country is standing next to one of the armed citizens of Idaho. The homicide rate here was 1.6 per 100,000 residents in 2019. The national rate is 3.5 times higher. Very few states have a lower rate.

It’s worth noting an Idaho Supreme Court ruling that the authors of the article seem to have missed, despite their diligent efforts: “the legislature has no power to prohibit a citizen from bearing arms in any portion of the state of Idaho.”

Don Fleming, Pocatello

Militias

Thank you guys for your coverage of the Idaho militia movements and their ties to the Black Lives Matter counter-protests. A “well-regulated militia” is enshrined in the 2nd amendment. At the time that was written, we had just 13 states and no standing military or police. A few cities had just begun adopting fire departments.

Now that America has the biggest military spending budget in the world, what is a good citizen’s militia to do when it’s no longer needed? Parade guns in the streets and intimidate teenagers and minorities, apparently.

There is of course also the looming threat of Antifa, which I’m still not sure exists. I’ve yet to see a politician pledge their support to Antifa, though we seem to have plenty of elected officials in Idaho ready to pledge their support to these camo-clad, rifle-toting posses.

Now that we’ve established that these public shows-of-arms are essentially illegal under Idaho law, I’m wondering when our police are going to step in and restore actual “law and order”. If these gatherings aren’t actually about intimidation, police should have no worries about politely telling these people to disperse and take their firearms home, where they belong.

Ty Hatfield, Boise