OPINION: Talk of the Town

I should have said something during Christmas dinner

I should have spoken up. It troubles me now that I was silent.

Every year in December I await the spirit of Christmas. What I treasure is the arrival of good will among men. When we wish strangers and friends a merry Christmas and open ourselves to giving. We give gifts to those we love and those of us who can donate to the causes we care about. We feel generous in our hearts.

And then came the dinner table remark that darkened me so.

Christmas Day was beautiful and mild, although I agreed with one of the dinner guests who felt uneasy with the unusually warm winter. During dessert, conversation turned to investing. Several guests used the same investment counselor and loved him. A woman was asked about investing ethically and she responded with, "Oh well, I don't care about that stuff, I just want him to make me some money." It was said in the same miserly spirit of Scrooge before his Christmas Eve epiphany that kindness and charity are their own rewards.

I wish I had spoken up for good guardianship. The planet matters. It should be kept clean. The future of our children matters. Please invest with social responsibility.

I will say it next time.

Doug Parker

Jemez Springs

ICE policies are inhumane and intolerable 

The Journal’s article describing the detention of Oscar Lopez and the effect on his family pointed out several important facts about Trump’s mass deportation program

However, the Journal article doesn’t explain why Lopez was arrested outside a Lowe’s while purchasing plumbing supplies. He did not have a criminal record. He has been living in the U.S. for decades — working, raising a family, paying taxes, contributing to America. He had paid for his purchase. Yet, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stopped him, arrested him and he is now in detention and threatened with deportation. Why did ICE arrest him in an Albuquerque Lowe’s parking lot?

It seems that ICE now has a policy of stopping and sometimes detaining people who are speaking Spanish or have brown skin. However, there is no law in America against speaking Spanish or having brown skin.

Perhaps, if as the Supreme Court has demanded, such detainees were promptly released, or provided their due process, these arrests might be tolerable. However, ICE’s own records show that many times detainees are not provided due process and American citizens have been detained.

New Mexico has a significant population of Spanish speakers and citizens with brown skin. They are justifiably afraid. As Mr. Lopez’s case demonstrates, one is in danger simply shopping at a public store.

ICE’s policy of racial and language profiling is not only a violation of the rights provided all people in America, it is inhumane and intolerable. We should all stand up, speak up and protest this behavior. We must work to assure the full rights, safety and protection of all of our neighbors and fellow citizens.

Arthur Flicker

Albuquerque

Investigative journalism can't be replaced

Recently, the Journal indicated they would honor their commitment as a source of investigative journalism for New Mexico. It has backed up that pledge.

Colleen Heild and Olivier Uyttebrouck’s story on medical malpractice was important and enlightening. Hopefully it will help the Legislature begin to address this New Mexico problem. Then your article by KFF Health News on nursing home abuse was shocking and of critical importance.

Keep up this great work. I don’t think newspapers and local news agencies can ever be replaced in regards to investigative journalism.

John Carney

Bernalillo