"Just Say No, Thank You," By Kimberly Thorpe, June 25
Cigar Just a Cigar
I enjoyed your [story]—until I got to the last sentence. It was certainly a dramatically constructed symbolism suitable for provocative fiction. But it is precisely this type of cynicism that communicates to our youth today, "Why bother? No one thinks I can do it, why should I?" Dear Nyjai, I challenge you to take this as a dare. After all your candor with Ms. Thorpe, she has the audacity to intimate that your brand-new person will roll away just like the ring. It may fit perfectly on your thumb; if not, just wrap a little tape around it while your new person grows into it.
Anna R. Brandon, Dallas
"Same Old Song and Dance," by Jim Schutze, July 9
Aye, there's the rub
"It's almost as if the Morning News can live with poverty forever in southern Dallas better than it could live with prosperity that owed nothing to white Dallas."
This really is the rub. The Al Lipscombs and John Wiley [Prices] want their slice, and white Dallas is more than happy to let them have it to keep the race card under white Dallas' thumb. If we're going to throw around the word "slavery," let's start there.
AJW, via dallasobserver.com
You don't get it, Jim. There is no difference between "southern Dallas politics" and "northern Dallas politics" or "black politics" and "white politics" in Dallas. Both sides are just as selfish and xenophobic as they can be. It's reflected in the way the city was built and in the way it operates. It's reflected in the way people get along with each other in the streets and on forums like this. I have to say, by writing this you're the sucker. Look at the responses to the article and tell me that what you wrote was in any way productive. Just more mass-stereotyping.
Dallas will go the way of Detroit. Detroit is stuck in a manufacturing model long after the model has lapsed into obsolescence in the United States, unable to compete with cheap overseas labor. Dallas is stuck in a low-end service job model to sustain better-than-average unemployment numbers. While the entire world and its most successful cities transform to knowledge economies contingent on creativity and innovation to be productive in carrying out even the smallest tasks, Dallas has one of the least educated and healthy populations of any major city. How ironic that your article is just the poster boy for the thing you say you "don't get." Read your article, read the comments, and tell me what you "don't get" and how these "two sides" would ever be expected to function together. Not. Gonna. Happen.
Jay, via dallasobserver.com
"Jungle Seizure," by Chris Vogel, July 9
Bungle in the Jungle
Now I know why Northerners (Americans) look down on Southerners. You country bumpkins must be so dumb to believe that Rambo, a movie I saw more than 20 years ago, is still a novelty for Africans. How did this racist bastard communicate with his kidnappers? Anyone that has been to Nigeria knows that if someone speaks any form of English, they probably know what a movie was. Give Nigerians some credit for intelligence. This trailer-park trash thought he could overpower the kidnappers? What a joke!
He did not want to use their razors? Fine. At least he would not infect my people with hepatitis or leukemia (very rare in Africa).
America may have elected a half-black president, but racist trailer-park trash still abound.
Chiedu Ikedionwu from Port Harcourt, Nigeria, via dallasobserver.com
Excellent piece of journalism and one of the better cover stories the Observer has printed this year. Mr. & Mrs. Plake's ordeal is truly terrifying. Sad, however, because their story is neither the first nor the last of its kind. Violence and extortion will unfortunately continue in that part of the world because of unscrupulous businesses that are willing to play ball with corrupt governments to make a buck.
Thankfully, nothing like this could happen in South Dallas. The corrupt government there scared away most businesses, scrupulous or not, long ago.
MD from Dallas, via dallasobserver.com
