`Tough policing' won't make the city safe
As the organization that pioneered "driving while black" suits, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is distressed by reports that poor African-Americans in Baltimore now risk searches and arrests for simply "being while black" ("Tough policing hasn't sparked complaints rise," Feb. 19).
Surely poor black city residents who are the victims of violence that accompanies street-level drug-dealing deserve safe streets.
But "tough policing" that results in more than 15,000 unwarranted stops and searches in nine months in East Baltimore alone makes area citizens twice victims -- at risk for losing personal safety and their civil rights.
The liberty lost is all the more grievous because it is unnecessary. Putting one neighborhood under a pressure-cooker inevitably moves problems to another, and is unlikely to decrease homicides in the long run.
We will never win the war on drugs, with its predictable carnage, until we provide an immediate drug treatment slot for anyone who wants one.
Last year's state funding increase to expand Baltimore's drug treatment system is a first step. Now the governor's proposed budget would fund even more treatment over the next two years.
Treatment is the most cost-effective way to reduce drug use and its associated crime and health complications.
Using valuable resources to create a virtual police state in the black community may work on any given day, but is the antithesis of freedom for all in the long run.
Susan Goering
Baltimore
The writer is executive director of the Maryland ACLU.
Lack of silver tongue doesn't dim Townsend
The Sun's article on Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend established that she lacks the ability to speak well absent a prepared speech ("Townsend foes finding arsenal in her words," Feb. 21). Although this is an important leadership trait, it is not as paramount as the article implies.
Presidents Nixon and Clinton could speak well without a script. But both men's integrity proved wanting. Presidents Ford and Carter were not gifted speakers. But their integrity is beyond reproach.
I care little about Ms. Towsend's ability to use words -- and much about her ability to honor her word.
Dennis Olver
Baltimore
Jokes won't make Bush an effective president
The Sun's article "Softly carries big shtick" (Feb. 20) was irrelevant. The joke is that it even appeared on the front page.
A bigger joke is how President Bush was selected to be president by conservative Supreme Court justices, but has thus far governed, arrogantly, as if he was elected with a clear mandate.
It's a big joke to nominate and fight for an attorney general who has a horrible civil rights record. It's a cute, even witty notion that a $1.6 trillion tax cut that ignores debt while rewarding wealth is presented as tax relief for all Americans.
Corny one-liners and wink-nod comedy does not make a good president. Jokes are no substitute for leadership and intellect.
When our economy fizzles, our environment suffers, civil rights go ignored, inflation counters our ability to reduce debt, health care is not overhauled, corporations put a nail in labor's coffin, and education reforms fail, all the jokes, winks, nods and smiles won't amount to a hill of beans.
Christopher Zysk
Towson
Lack of choice prevents electricity free market
Christian H. Poindexter fails to make the case that a free market in electricity will be good for Maryland ("Deregulating energy won't shock Md.," Opinion * Commentary, Feb. 18).
For a free market to function properly, consumers must have the power to say no to producers, buy substitute goods or defer or forgo purchases. This freedom is not available to consumers of electricity, which has become so central to our lives that we simply cannot do without it.
Undisciplined by consumers who can say no, electricity providers will have the power to engage in price-fixing and other untoward activities.
It matters little that under deregulation consumers may choose among several competing power companies, because that choice, like the one between Coke and Pepsi, is an empty one.
Eric K. Heavner
Towson
Picking a fine time to recognize Mitchells
I agree with Joseph Sterne that Clarence Mitchell Jr., his wife, Juanita Jackson Mitchell and her mother, Lillie Jackson, are not getting the honor and recognition they deserve for their civil rights work ("Unsung hero of civil rights," Feb. 18).
Black History Month is certainly a time to teach our children about the great contributions these individuals made.
Delores Stokes
Baltimore
