Letters to the Editor

THE MENTAL FACTORY

EDITOR: Inviting people to jump off the Fremont Bridge [“Why Not
Jump Off of Me?” The Fremont Bridge, Nov 13] or any bridge in Seattle
is not funny or responsible. Have you ever felt suicidal? I have. You
get to feeling very suggestible. It’s not the clearest time for the
mental factory to be working. The fact that a leap off the Fremont
Bridge would likely not result in death is not the point here. People
jump, stay in the water, and drown. According to the National Alliance
on Mental Illness, 90 percent of those who yearly kill themselves in
America are ill with a mental illness or a substance-abuse disorder.
They don’t need an invitation with a picture of a bridge and a cute
headline. They’re struggling enough as it is.

Naomi Stenberg

THE MOVEMENT

Editor: I was troubled by Dan Savage’s analysis of the defeat of
Prop 8 in “Strange Bedfellows” [“Eleven Writers on the First Week of a
New Era,” Nov 13]. Savage wrote that the African-American community is
homophobic, but dismissed gay and lesbian white racism as a significant
(or possible) reason for the black community’s opposition to Prop
8.

As an antiracist white person, I think that Savage’s white privilege
may be coloring his analysis. Savage is oppressed as a gay man, so of
course that seems like a huge issue to him. But as a white person, he
doesn’t have to think about racism, ever. And that’s the problem. White
people are usually racist in a covert or unconscious way. Why do you
think there are so many separate queer communities of color? Speak to a
queer person of color, and chances are they have lots of stories about
experiencing racism and alienation in the mainstream (white) queer
community.

Instead of dismissing black opposition to Prop 8 as pure bigotry,
everyone should try to examine the way the white gay and lesbian
movement interacts with communities of color, both queer and straight,
and look for subtle (to whites) racism in the organizing that was done
around Prop 8. Organizing queer folks and their allies in antiracist
ways will only help to build a stronger movement.

White Antiracist

THE REAL FAILURE

EDITOR: It’s really interesting to read all of the articles in
The Stranger and also the accompanying comments on Slog
regarding black people (I’m black and I hate the term African American)
and how they’re taking the blame for Prop 8 not going the way people
wanted it to go. I really feel that everyone needs to understand that
the real failure goes to the weakness of the California Supreme Court
decision regarding gay marriage and the fact that it wasn’t strong
enough to hold its own legislatively. Did no one think that it might be
challenged? The majority of black people I know don’t view
homosexuality the way that some of your writers do, [like] Charles
Mudede [“Some People,” Slog, Nov 13]. I think he’s full of shit; I
can’t think of one black family I know that doesn’t have an Aunt Frank
or Uncle Pat.

Look, personally I really don’t give a s@#t either way, but some
people did, and they voted with their conscience. Do we really have the
right to be pissed off because Prop 8 passed? NO, not really. What
everyone should really be pissed off about is that in this day and age
we allow others to control what happens in our personal lives.

C’mon, people, think! There’s the old adage: Opinions are like
assholes—everyone has one and to some people they stink.

Rashaan Leex

THE BLEAK
INEVITABILITY

Dear Stranger: All of the divergent yet underlying proliberal
impressions postelection by your 11 writers informed, enlightened,
impressed, and blah blah blah’ed me [“Eleven Writers on the First Week
of a New Era,” Nov 13)—as expected. But then I reread Christopher
Frizzelle’s “The New Depression: Or, the Problem with Happiness” and
felt—if but for a moment—a brief kinship and the sense that
maybe I’m not alone in this vast universe.

Most political writers will focus on who won and why, the platform,
issues, and challenges of taking on the presidential
office—basically your laundry list of grievances and
lobbyist-speak. But I can always count on The Stranger to come
up with more, to look deeper, beyond the subject matter and the
consensus prattle. Frizzelle’s piece managed to stand out because his
impression wasn’t so much on our new president, Barack Obama, or our
state’s liberal leanings, as it was on our collective need to find
something to capture and hold our attention away from the bleak
inevitability of our oblivion.

Coggie