To the editor,
If Charles Barron were to be elected Brooklyn Borough President, renaming a small section of Gates Avenue after racist Sonny Carson would pale in comparison to what he would attempt next (“Plenty of traffic in race for Boro Prez,” July 28).
We should all expect the following changes: the Belt Parkway becomes the Joanne Chesimard Parkway, the new Floating Pool could be renamed in honor of Tawana Brawley, the Alton Maddox Prospect Park, the Louis Farrakhan Fulton Mall, the Al Sharpton Cyclone and the Hazel Dukes Botanical Garden.
If Mr. Barron is elected as the Borough President I am on the phone that night with the 7 Santini Brothers.
John Landers, Bay Ridge
• • •
To the editor,
Please check your sources. Mr. Barron does not represent the entire community of Canarsie. We have several more visible [and] caring representatives.
Charles Zambrana, Canarsie
A naked disgrace
To the editor,
Your recent front page story and photo of a so-called “artist” posing naked in Green-Wood Cemetery (“Snapping shots in the cemetery, naked,” July 28) demonstrates a total disregard for the families and loved ones of thousands of souls interred here.
Adding insult to injury, in covering this despicable and illegal activity on cemetery grounds after-hours, your reporter and photographer trespassed on private property. I trust this will not happen again.
Green-Wood Cemetery works hard to build positive relationships with our local Brooklyn media. I hope this temporary setback is not a harbinger of your future coverage.
Surely, Green-Wood’s history, beauty and innovative projects provide ample material for interesting stories, which I hope The Brooklyn Paper will continue to take full advantage of in the future.
Richard J. Moylan, President, The Green-Wood Cemetery
Happy to pay, if…
To the editor,
Am I the only one who would be happy to pay more for my MTA rides if that would actually translate into better service and cleaner stations?
While we live in a world where all public land is offered to the highest bidder, I grieve for the lack of public oversight. With the Atlantic Avenue/Flatbush intersection having some of the highest recorded concentrations of pollution in the city; Atlantic Yards would have been the perfect place to create parks and recreation and public sporting areas.
Why spend my hard-earned cash on providing an Astrodome for a basketball team I will never come to see?
The city of Atlanta is currently in the process of converting its empty rail yards into such a place — parks for the people. Unfortunately, as long as our Beep is beholden to Forest City Ratner; and the Mayor cares nothing for urban planning; we can “fuggetaboutit.”
Johanna Clearfield, Park Slope
Not black, white
To the editor,
I look forward to the day when a tongue-in-cheek statement like, “And he’s African-American!” is no longer suggested when referring to a presidential candidate (“The Battle for the $oul of Brooklyn,) July 21).
While this country is obsessed with the notion that Barack Obama is poised to challenge the white stronghold on the position of Commander-in-Chief, the fact that he will always be associated with his skin color should give us all pause. Similarly, Hillary Clinton carries her gender as a defining part of her public resume.
These characteristics can be inspiring and a source of pride. But hypocrisy exists when white men run against each other and barely a word is said in the press about their racial background or gender.
Due to the diversity of the current field of candidates, questions like, “Is the country ready for a black president?” and “Is the country ready for a female president?” are posed and debated.
Having witnessed the current president dissemble, obscure facts, encourage misinformation, blatantly favor friends and business associates, ignore legal processes, and sentence to death or life-long injury women and men in a failed war, perhaps a better question to ask is if America is ready for another white president.
David Terhune, Carroll Gardens
• • •
To the editor:
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are not the only Democrats in the presidential race. Believe it or not, some of us here in Brooklyn are supporting other Democrats. Why no coverage of them?
The first caucus and primary are months away. Why should people be influenced to believe that they have no choice but Clinton and Obama?
I, for one, am proudly supporting John Edwards.
Gloria Johnson, Park Slope
Great runner
To the editor,
Thank you for the great article on Edward Baker (“Running man,” July 21). Mr. Baker is not only the silver and gold medal winner for the senior games, but he’s also a great neighbor and inspiration to the young and the elderly.
We attend the same church and converse about the good things of life.
Congratulations on a great achievement and continued good health and speed in your future endeavors.
Margaret Zeigler, Fort Greene
Trust in sugar
To the editor,
Why do you uncritically describe the creation of the Sugar Trust by the Havemeyers (and their confederates) as “sordid”? (“Sugar’s sordid local story,” Williamsburg–Greenpoint–Bushwick edition, July 28.)
The industrialization of sugar turned what had been considered a luxury into a table-top commodity available to millions.
By the time the “Robber Barons” were completely reorganizing the industrial base of the United States (Tate & Lyle was the monopolist controller of sugar to the entire British Empire; the French had their own, too), the slave trade and slave-produced sugar cane (with the sole exception of Brazil, most of whose produce were transported to Europe) had long passed into history. To tie them to that horrible past is not fair.
The Havemeyers — Germans, not “Knickerbockers” (Dutch), by the way — were men of their time and for all that they engaged in monopoly profits and activities, they were not breaking the law and acted much as others did in creating a standard, commoditized item of ready and relatively inexpensive availability.
It may interest you to hear that sugar is the sole agricultural commodity overseen by a Congressional committee other than Agriculture — where agricultural tariffs were set and annual export allocations to the U.S. from low-cost [read Caribbean, particularly Cuba] sugar producers were made.
George M. Bulow, Manhattan
