Leave Billy Graham statue as is. You can’t separate the man from the message. | Opinion
Billy Graham
Regarding "New Billy Graham statue crosses a line, but there is an easy fix," ( June 26 ):
The idea of trying to separate the man from his message would not only be an injustice, it would be untruthful. For decades massive crowds filled stadiums all over the world to hear Billy Graham. They came to hear the truths now inscribed on the base of his statue in the U.S. Capitol.
When he stood against apartheid in South Africa, he did not do it with political speeches, but by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When he comforted the nation after 9/11, he declared the love of God through Jesus. When he addressed our nation's top leaders at the Capitol, he didn't speak about government, but about each one's personal need of the Gospel. That was who Billy Graham was. Leave his statue be.
UNC spying
Columnist Issac Bailey's "Secret recording: Another shameful chapter at UNC-CH" ( June 24 Opinion ) put me on high alert. Was this another attack on the UNC Board of Governors for daring to reform higher education? No, it wasn't but it did expose a practice unworthy of any university.
The University of North Carolina has no business spying on faculty with hidden cameras. The American Association of University Professors defends teachers' academic freedom, but with guidance "to avoid persistently intruding material which has no relation to their subject." If there are credible student complaints of violations, the professor should receive a warning for a first offense. Dismissal might follow refusal to comply.
To engage in spying is itself prejudicial, and the Board of Governors should reform that.
CMS goals
Regarding "CMS superintendent expects to 'meet 100%' of 5-year goals. Is that realistic?" ( June 26 ):
I want Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Crystal Hill's five-year plan to be "100%" successful. Her most difficult challenge: staying beyond those five years. She won the job with an underwhelming 6-3 vote and she'll be fighting a trend — CMS has run through a string of superintendents in the past decade or so. In 2023, school board members Summer Nunn and Lisa Cline voted against hiring Hill. Now, Hill has Mecklenburg's two toughest jobs: student outcomes and changing 6-3 support into unanimous support.
Affordable housing
The Charlotte City Council hears complaints about the lack of affordable housing. They increase property tax rates at a time when property valuations are increasing . Obviously, people who own rental property are not going to absorb the cost, but will pass it on to renters. When council raises taxes they should realize they are decreasing affordable housing.
Shootout video
Kudos to the judge who turned down the media's request to make video from the April 29 shootout public. ( June 20 )
It seems to me the survivors' families haven't had time to grieve their loss and showing what happened is not going to help them at all. I thank the judge for acting with a decisive and sensible ruling in this day and age when common sense has become an oxymoron.
'For the people'?
The honorables in Washington have been debating the corporate tax rate. It's a complex issue. Democrats favor raising to 28% and Republicans reducing it to 15%. For individual, breathing human people, the maximum rate is 38%.
Our Supreme Court says corporations are people with the same free speech rights of living and dying humans. Billionaire Donald Trump's individual federal income tax return for 2016, the year he was elected president, show he owed personal income tax of zero dollars.
Our first Republican president, Honest Abe Lincoln, said the essential question was whether government of the people, by the people and for the people would long endure? Our most recent Republican president says the system is rigged. We might ask rigged by whom and for whom? And who are "the people"?
