[OPINION] Stories such as Ferguson are difficult to discuss as news, not opinion

By far the story I’ve spoken with readers about the most this week was the centerpiece of the Sunday print edition. It was a look at how the U.S. has changed in the year since the death of Michael Brown in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.

It included a variety of voices and data, and explored such uneasy topics as attitudes toward law enforcement among different racial groups. Some of those quoted were positive, and others negative.

The most common complaint was voiced by one emailer today:

“To say that Michael Brown was ‘…the unarmed black 18-year-old shot by white police officer Darren Wilson...’ is like saying Donald Trump is running for president. There is an awful lot that is unsaid. The facts of the Michael Brown shooting should not be ignored.”

I can’t argue with that though Brown’s death was really the taking-off point for the story. It didn’t attempt to recount the incident, which has been done ad nauseum over the past year.

But that goes two ways. Many of the readers I spoke to wanted the story to underline that Michael Brown had been seen on security footage strong-arming a convenience store clerk, and that he had alleged, but unproven, juvenile criminal records.

None of this information is new of course. But on the other hand, telling the “whole story” also means that facts about Darren Wilson that his supporters may be uncomfortable with as well should be included, including details about his attitudes on race from a recent New Yorker interview that many critics have found troubling.

This is one of those news events where I’ve felt readers really end up discussing their feelings about the case, rather than the journalism surrounding it. We all tend to impose good guy/bad guy thinking on these stories, where the truth often is that both sides bore at least some culpability in the outcome.

The one knock against this story and others like it is one I haven’t heard from readers, but I’ve thought myself: People on all sides of the issue are making some pretty big leaps in lumping too many incidents together when they really share very little in common.

The death of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a civilian has very little relationship to the question of others who have died in altercations with police officers. Those are matters of public policy and safety, while Martin’s death — while undeniably tragic — was caused by a private citizen, and really never should have become international news.

And further, the individual cases of other black people while in fights with police or under arrest are themselves disparate. I’ve argued many times that news events aren’t fiction, and there’s no such thing as symbolism or other narratives techniques there. It cheapens each of these people’s stories to weave them into an imaginary storyline, and journalists should be careful about drawing any parallels.

Via: Kansas City Star

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[LETTERS] Readers react to Planned Parenthood, abandoned animals and Obamacare

Planned Parenthood

Even though Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas do not accept fetal tissue, Gov. Sam Brownback launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood. Brownback is staunchly opposed to abortion, so this is merely another effort to close down Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas.

Apparently, the governor does not realize the vital health care services Planned Parenthood provides for women. These include birth control, sexually transmitted disease testing, pelvic exams, Pap tests and breast-cancer screenings. Abortions account for only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services.

Brownback must keep his hands off health care for Kansas women and concentrate on the fiscal disaster he has created in our state.

Jane Toliver

Leawood

Abandoned animals

To the uncaring person who saw fit to drop off the little black and white dog at Missouri 150 and Bynum Road one Sunday morning, if you had stuck around a few minutes you could have seen that bewildered baby scanning every vehicle that passed by hoping in its heart that you would return, only to be disappointed time after time.

You would also have seen several caring people stop to try and rescue that poor thing before it became another dead animal along the roadway.

You were right in your apparent assumption that we country folk are animal lovers and will if possible make a home for your unwanted pet.

The truth is, however, we who want animals already have them. Your callous disregard for that animal’s feelings are reprehensible.

There are a number of animal rescuers in the metropolitan area that would have gladly taken that poor creature and tried to find a decent home for it.

Almost daily, we who travel the highway are treated to a collection of dead animals, some wild and some dumped as was yours, that have been struck by cars.

Shame on you.

Wayne Miller

Lone Jack

Kobach, Obamacare

The Kansas secretary of state has written members of Congress, urging them to affirm a health-care compact that he says would give states a way to exempt themselves from the federal Affordable Care Act.

News stories have said that Secretary of State Kris Kobach said in the letter to 94 Republicans in Congress that authorization of the interstate coalition on health care would give those states authority to regulate health care within their borders and to administer their federal health-care funds.

In 2014, Kansas lawmakers approved a bill to join such a compact. But it requires congressional approval to take effect. Critics say the plan could jeopardize the health care of people who receive other forms of federal health-care benefits, including more than 450,000 seniors in Kansas on Medicare.

Medicare works just fine as a federal program. Kansans should fight this effort.

Kansas cannot manage Medicare as well as the federal government.

John Skelton

Lansing

Brownback’s plan

I do not agree that the budget deficit in Kansas stems from a poor or mistaken economic policy by Gov. Sam Brownback. He knew exactly what the outcome would be.

The governor is an intelligent man. He has to be aware that trickle-down economics is a failed economic policy. Yet he has continued to pursue tax cuts for the wealthy and shifted more of the tax burden to the middle class and the poor through increased sales taxes and reduced mortgage deductions.

Gov. Brownback appears to subscribe to a libertarian philosophy, which favors dismantling the “nanny state” by starving state and local governments of adequate tax money to fund education, public pensions, Medicaid and infrastructure.

Next year, as the deficit grows, Kansans will face some hard choices if they continue to support Brownback’s insistence on his 2012 tax cuts for the wealthy.

Diane Mitchell

Kansas City

Redefining terrorism

Terrorism is a violent statement, meant to strike terror into the hearts of entire groups. The acts of Dylann Roof, F. Glenn Miller Jr. and a huge number of others fall into this category.

And yet our government and the news media mostly reserve the word terrorism for acts committed by Muslims. An example is Chattanooga, Tenn.

Most low-information Americans find the very word terrifying and wildly overestimate their odds of getting killed by Muslim terrorists. It’s considerably more likely that one might be the victim of an American terrorist.

Reserving the word for Muslims leads to unfair hatred of Islam and to our enthusiastic endorsement of war and drone strikes on Muslim countries. This understandably angers Muslims and recruits some to groups bent on vengeance.

It’s time to ponder this effect and rethink the role being played in the branding of Muslims as the terrorists of the world.

Marlen Beach

Kansas City

Climb pay ladder

I am a lifelong Kansas City resident. I voted for Mayor Sly James twice.

I’ve read Mary Sanchez’s columns for years, often disagreeing with her. I don’t own a business, and I get my coffee at McDonald’s every day. I put myself through college by working after school and through the GI bill.

Raising the minimum wage to $13 an hour by Jan. 1, 2020, is a mistake. It will only serve to hold people in menial jobs even longer.

I love the servers I see at McDonald’s every day. My best wish for them is to leave, move on to the next better job.

Raise your pay by advancement, not by raising the minimum wage.

Get out of the rut.

Mary Sanchez is worried about the programs these wonderful young people might lose if the wage went up. Go to school, get an education and get out of the rut.

I worked 40 hours a week and carried a full college load every semester. I was married, and my first son was born while I was in school.

It worked. I spent 42 years with the same company here in Kansas City by moving up, not by protesting for more pay.

Michael J. Callahan

Kansas City

Via: Kansas City Star

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