Tag archives: racism
The Truth About Kelp I read with interest Mr. Zach Rosen’s article on Chris Goldblatt’s reef project. I am uncertain if Mr. Rosen was obtaining his information from Chris, but his initial statements are inaccurate under any circumstances. First, El Niño events are directly correlated with warm waters and heavy rainfall. Not, “droughts” as he […]
These days discussions about race are like a knot where the more you work on it, the tighter it gets. I do not recall a more racially charged time and I have been through several of them. To give just a brief summary of the last few days: the entertainer Nick Cannon made some comments […]
In Wachtberg near the Rhine is a bronze monument to a heroic German general of World War I. He was able to bring back a few of his men. My German grandfather, Gustav Felsenthal, was among the hundreds of thousands holed up in the terrible trenches of France, 1915-1918. Although Germany lost a war that […]
I wrote this letter July 4th-5th, 2020. Growing up, Independence Day was one of my favorite holidays. It was a celebration of the strong shoulders upon which this great nation was built; a celebration of the principles our Founding Fathers fought for and a celebration of the Founding Fathers themselves. The food was great and […]
Happy 4th of July Even though COVID means we are unable to celebrate the 4th of July at the traditional firehouse pancake breakfast, we can still stop by this month and donate the price of our meal tickets to show our support for the firefighters and staff who keep our community safe. Our family and […]
We are writing this piece on June 19, 2020, and wanted to wish everyone Happy Juneteenth! For many of our readers, this might be the first year you’ve heard about the holiday called Juneteenth, but it’s been celebrated around parts of the United States since 1886, with more and more people celebrating it each year. […]
I’m confused. Prior to May 25, law enforcement officers, along with firefighters, doctors and nurses, were celebrated as America’s heroes for showing up as first responders when other workers were told to shelter-in-place. What has happened to unleash a flood of angry protestors with signs that read “Eat the rich. Hang Bankers”; “F*** Capitalism”; and […]
Last week this column was entitled Half Slave, Half Free and dealt with the reality that people of color are not equal in this country; and, that this condition is a fundamental challenge to our “Union” as envisioned by Abraham Lincoln. Hopefully, after the last two weeks of international protests we are ready to embrace […]
Expressing Needs We need to realize most police officers are dedicated public servants who have a much tougher job than a vast majority of good people could handle. Yes, to use a cliché, there will be a few “bad apples” who manage to get massive publicity, but I wouldn’t want to “not have the police […]
The two original sins of this nation are the systematic genocide of Native Americans and slavery. Both were the result of overt racism which has become so imbedded in our culture that we’re now left with only this choice: either be racist, or be anti-racist. There is no longer any middle ground. It’s not going […]
Thousands marched through Santa Barbara once more Sunday, as local high school students united to orchestrate a rally and march against police brutality, as well as present their demands to the Santa Barbara Unified School District and Police Department. “The fuse had been lit years ago,” said Shawn Banks, an assistant boys basketball coach at […]
It was exactly one week since George Floyd died in custody of the Minneapolis Police when Glen Phillips and I talked earlier this week over the phone. The issue of institutional racism and police brutality was weighing heavily on his mind, and would show up six hours later in that Monday night’s solo Zoom show, […]
Nearly 3,000 protestors marched through downtown Santa Barbara to face the Police Department Sunday, culminating in a blowout between protestors, police, and Mayor Cathy Murillo. “We are going to occupy State Street,” said Krystle Farmer, one of the organizers of the event. The protest was orchestrated by the Black Lives Matter SB group, headed by […]
What Are We Going to Tell our Kids? The George Floyd video is a Zapruder film of not just the final moments of a man’s life, but a snapshot of race relations in this country, at this particular inflection point. What each of us finds most disturbing about that video is as unique and diverse […]
On date March 18, 2020, Dr. Jason J. Prystowsky, the ER Doctor at Cottage Hospital, gave a webinar talk to over a thousand participants including first responders, hospital workers, and support staff to update everyone on the coronavirus from the ER perspective. Emergency Rooms all over the country are getting slammed by every variation of […]
