Letters: Response to racist act more shocking than slur; The Centre County we know and love
Response to racist act more shocking than slur
A few weeks ago, a Black man walked into the Sheetz on North Atherton. If you live in State College, you have surely been to this Sheetz. As he entered the business, a white woman in a passing vehicle shouted from an open window: “Black n------!” and then drove away.
This incident was shared on social media where many people read about it. More shocking than the racist slur from this woman’s mouth, was that nobody who bore witness said anything. All the white folks filling up their vehicles with gas, purchasing snacks, lotto tickets or using the restroom said nothing. Not to the victim, not to the business manager or the State College Police Department. Either they simply didn’t care or didn’t care to be bothered.
The SCPD says hate crimes are highly underreported in our town and across the United States. Of the 250,000 hate crimes each year nationwide, roughly only 1 in 3 are reported to local departments. Based on this math, State College has averaged 21 hate crimes since January 2020. This number has markedly increased over the past several years and it has not gone unnoticed.
The Black man who was verbally assaulted at the Sheetz was Terry Watson, a community member and founder of Strategies for Justice, an organization that works to find solutions for racial injustices in communities. Terry Watson can teach us so much, I urge you to visit his website and engage with his work.
The Centre County we know and love
When the council hearing on the proposed police oversight board turned into a shouting match, the echoes of Jan. 6 are only too clear.
Centre County GOP chair Kris Eng adopted the playbook of former President Donald Trump. Just as he urged people to attack the Capitol, claiming falsely that the election had been stolen, so Eng rallied Centre County Republicans to attend the meeting, saying that the “far left is intentionally stealing the Centre County we know and love.”
This is a lie. The Centre County we know and love is at its best a welcoming, inclusive, diverse and multi-ethnic community. We who live in Centre County support the COB and its commitment to support justice, refuse racism, and welcome ALL in our community.
US can and should do more for global poverty
Global poverty is one of the biggest issues in the world today, and it affects hundreds of millions of people day in and day out. And since poverty has existed for hundreds of years, it can feel like it is an unsolvable problem, an unfortunate evil that is bound to happen. But in reality, global poverty rates have been decreasing significantly due to the hard work of committed organizations and legislators. Overall, global poverty has been cut by more than half since the year 2000. In 2015, the percentage of the global population living in extreme poverty fell below 10% for the first time. We have seen real, tangible change in the lives of poor populations, which is why we cannot stop now.
On average, people guess that about 25% of the United States budget goes to foreign aid, and would want to reduce it to a level of 10%. In reality, it is less than 1%. The United States can and should invest more money in foreign aid because we have a strong humanitarian and strategic interest in doing so. And we, as United States citizens, should do our part by backing notable foreign aid bills, like the International Affairs Budget. Join The Borgen Project in their mission to end global poverty today by doing just that.