Letters to the Editor: Friday, Nov. 22, 2008

Published: November 22, 2008

What was it about?

Since the election I’ve heard many African-Americans say, "We made it!” If this election wasn’t about race, what are they talking about? If John McCain had won, would everyone be saying we have an Anglo-American president?

In other elections where everyone is either Anglo-American, Hispanic-American or African-American, no one hollers, "We made it!” African-Americans have been in government for years. So if this is not about race, why are they making it about race?

Verna Klenk, Tuttle

The winning way

Barack Obama’s victory had nothing to do with speeches about the economy or health care or any other topic. He won because he registered minority voters who had never voted and he got out the voters on Election Day. Obama devised an elaborate scheme for getting out the vote. In Ohio, a key state, instead of volunteers assembling workers in 200 parking lots and union halls, he had 1,400 neighborhood teams, each assigned to 40 to 60 houses, calling on each household every week.

Elections are won by the party getting the most votes. Obama organized his workers to do just that.

Harry C. Marberry, Oklahoma City

It’s all tragic

Let’s take a deep breath before we start worrying about the return of the Ku Klux Klan. "Is the KKK making a comeback?” (news feature, Nov. 16) quotes the Anti-Defamation League as saying there are 4,000 to 5,000 Klan members in America. That’s bad, but 66 million people voted for Barack Obama. According to 2005 census figures, African-Americans make up nearly 40 million of the population. News outlets report the black vote was about 14 percent of the total electorate, with 95 percent of those going for Obama. If you subtract that figure from the president-elect’s popular vote total, you are still just a few hundred thousand shy of John McCain’s entire popular vote total. Sound like a country teetering on racism to you?

Racism is tragic, be it the type of racism our president-elect occasionally heard from a pulpit for 20 years at his Chicago church or the type of racism we read about concerning the KKK. It’s all tragic. Racists among us disparage our national character whether they are part of the anti-Semitic Nation of Islam or knuckle-dragging white supremacists.

David Hull, Yukon

Be fair and honest

While reading The Oklahoman’s recent coverage regarding the comeback of the Ku Klux Klan, I was saddened that such hatred is raising its ugly head in Oklahoma as well as in surrounding states. I find their behavior disgusting and frightening. However, by presenting only one side of racism, The Oklahoman as well as other media may be doing more to recruit members to the KKK than the KKK is doing.

There are racist and frightening actions on both sides of the issue; presenting only one side intimidates and puts those people on the defensive. I ask that the media be fair and honest with the racism issue.

Janice Cunningham, Oklahoma City

Especially scary

Sally C. Pipes’ "High court should reject vaccine suits” (Opinion, Nov. 12) presented a series of common misperceptions. The major pharmaceutical companies have been around for over 150 years, vaccine production has gone on longer than that and lawsuits have gone on even longer. If litigation were somehow harming vaccine production, drug companies would be having a difficult time developing new products. The evidence suggests otherwise.

Despite litigation by consumers injured by unsafe drugs, this industry continues to pour money into new product development, including vaccines. Even during this period of economic downturn, its profits continue to soar. In fact, the drug industry now stands as the nation’s third-most profitable.

Furthermore, when talking about the U.S. Supreme Court case Wyeth v. Levine, it’s important to point out what’s at stake — total immunity for pharmaceutical companies that produce dangerous drugs merely because that drug initially meets minimal government standards. This is an especially scary prospect given that even FDA experts admit they don’t always get it right.

Drug companies have always had great success innovating and competing. Holding negligent drug companies accountable never has and never will stifle vaccine production. It will only make children safer.

Andy Hoffman, New York, N.Y.

Hoffman is an attorney and policy analyst for the Center for Justice & Democracy, a trial lawyer group that opposes tort reform.

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