Use of ‘n-word’ a big problem in Beaufort County schools | Letters

I write this as a parent of black students in the Beaufort County schools. They hear other students constantly use the “n-word.” The intentions behind the use of the word are far-ranging, but it really doesn’t matter. The n-word is violent, offensive, and weighted with centuries of racial hatred. That is the case whether you choose to end it with an “a” or an “r.”

I have discussed my concerns about the constant use of the “n-word” with principal Todd Bornscheuer of May River High School. Recently, in a School Improvement Council meeting, he shared his vision for new opportunities for students to address improving school culture. I appreciated his sincerity and his frustration that students don’t seem to understand just how dangerous this word can be.

This is not a single-school issue. My sixth grader even asked superintendent Frank Rodriguez in a public forum how the district will stop constant use of the “n-word” in our schools.

We have an issue in our community – one that is too broad and too deep to place in the lap of one school leader or district.

Our community is richly multi-cultural, and we should celebrate this difference. A color-blind community, one where we pretend that differences don’t exist, will perpetuate a climate that is unwelcoming and breeds division.

Let’s have the difficult conversations. Let the lessons of empathy and humanity begin at home. You can’t politicize decency. And our children deserve better.

Dafina Masani Ward

Bluffton

GOP tradition: cheat to win

Since Dwight David Eisenhower, the Republicans have essentially not won a presidential election legitimately. They did something illegal or supported illegal things that negatively impacted their opponents.

1968: Nixon staffers talked to the North Vietnamese to not accept President Lyndon Johnson’s peace offer because he would give them a better deal.

1972: Nixon and Watergate; enough said.

1980: Reagan campaign people met with Iranians and told them to wait until after the election and Reagan would give them a better deal (eventually, illegally trading arms for cash).

1984: Reagan should not have been president (in jail instead) so it does not matter.

1988: George H.W. Bush should have been in jail because he knew about the Iran Contra mess and covered it up, but he did win, although his lies about Michael Dukakis were unconscionable.

2000: George W. Bush was appointed by the Supreme Court after Florida Republican officials totally screwed up the recount. Clearly, Al Gore won Florida.

2004: More Bush mischief. After conceding the election, more than 130,000 ballots were mysteriously found from areas in Ohio that were strongly Democratic and would have swung the state and the election to John Kerry.

2016: The Donald Trump campaign solicited help to confuse and thwart voters in multiple states, and many Republican-controlled states used all kinds of spurious tactics to reduce voter turnout in Democratic areas.

There it is – a half century of cheating to win. What will they do in 2020?

Shameful.

Richard Hammes

Hilton Head Island