Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Pennsylvania’s newspapers:
Ebensburg flag flap regretful
Altoona Mirror
June 16
It was disappointing that a Confederate flag - a flag whose existence is rooted in hatred, division and national upheaval - was allowed to undermine the spirit, meaning and purpose of this year’s Ebensburg Memorial Day Parade.
The flag should have been ordered from the line of parade participants before the event started - or removed once its presence otherwise became known.
Such a symbol of hatred has no place in an event meant to remember the men and women who died while serving in this country’s armed forces. In fact, it has no place in any public event.
Whatever the motivation or intention of the man who displayed the Confederate banner alongside a United States flag on his vintage farm tractor in Ebensburg’s line of march might never be fully or accurately known. However, as troubling as - or perhaps more troubling than - the Confederate flag’s parade “participation” was the reaction of most local officials when the flag issue surfaced near the end of the borough council’s June 8 meeting.
When Councilman Scot May brought up the topic of complaint letters received in the aftermath of the parade and asked whether those complaints were going to be discussed, he was met with silence.
While that silence might have been based somewhat on lack of preparedness for the discussion, it also - unfortunately and understandably - raised questions about whether underlying, troubling attitudes and beliefs exist in the minds of officials serving in elected positions in the Cambria County community.
But those Ebensburg officials, commendably, haven’t put the issue to rest. The council will hold a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the municipal building’s community room at 300 W. High St.
The meeting deserves attendance by an overflow crowd. However, considering the ongoing coronavirus concerns, the council probably should have sought a larger venue for the meeting.
A necessary point: The parade’s flag issue is not grounded in trying to deny freedom of speech. The individual in question - or anyone - has the right to display a Confederate flag on his or her own private property.
However, no one should attempt to impose a symbol of hatred on a public event.
And the word “hatred” is indeed an accurate description. Anyone who might disagree needs to read - and look closely at the pictures contained in - the National Geographic book “Remember Little Rock,” the story of the horrific treatment accorded nine black students trying to enroll at Little Rock’s Central High School in 1957.
There is enough hatred recounted in that book of only 61 pages to encompass years of reflection.
Page 48 is particularly relevant to this and Wednesday’s discussion. It includes a picture of two Central Arkansas High white students wearing symbols of the Confederacy, one of them wearing a Confederate flag on the back of his shirt. The book’s Chapter 5 - titled “Student Warriors” - tells how “adult segregationists worked with like-minded students to organize harassment of the Little Rock Nine in school.”
That was 1957. However, the Confederate flag in 2020 remains a remnant of the hate displayed then, and what existed at the time of America’s “fracture” that spawned the Civil War.
Neither Ebensburg nor any other community should welcome any ties to that hate.
Online: https://bit.ly/2Y9b4jJ
___
It’s time to start the vote discussion
The Citizen’s Voice
June 16
The Legislature has passed a bill requiring a report by late July on the conduct of the June 2 primary, the first ever in which any Pennsylvania voter could cast a ballot by mail.
More than 1 million voters used that option in a primary that lacked competition for either of the major party candidates, and scant competition for most other offices on the ballot.
The general election will be vastly different, with a hotly contested presidential race and contested contests for congressional and state legislative seats.
Given the interest in voting by mail, especially amid the ongoing state public health emergency, it’s crucial for the Legislature to help county election offices prepare.
And many county election officers have made clear that it would be folly to wait for the official report in late July to start talking about needed changes. They already know what is needed.
Foremost, county election officials have told the Legislature, is the need for more time to count mailed ballots to that complete results will be available on election night.
Lawmakers should approve starting the count on the Saturday prior to Election Day. Some legislators raised the concern that early numbers could be released, potentially swaying voters who choose to vote at polling places on Election Day.
That can be resolved by technology and the law. Ballots will be scanned and tabulated by computers, which can be programmed to release the results only after 8 p.m. on Nov. 3, in response only to a single set of security credentials, or other means. And the Legislature can make it a felony to leak early results.
“I’ve never met a candidate worth going to jail for,” said Lycoming County Elections Director Forrest Lehman.
An early discussion also is necessary to ensure that county election offices have the resources they need.
A secure, accurate and timely vote count is a nonpartisan objective. Legislators should start the discussion now to ensure that it happens.
Online: https://bit.ly/2ClRUih
___
Second firing of Easton wrestling coach just as flawed as the first
Easton Express-Times
June 14
Let’s start with the obvious: JaMarr Billman deserved better.
The Easton Area High School wrestling coach, the first black wrestling coach in the school’s history, was effectively fired two weeks ago when the head coaching position was declared vacant.
Okay … technically, he could still reapply, but the Easton administrators who made this decision slammed the door on his dignity.
If you recall, the administration botched an attempt to remove him two years ago. He was reinstated after a public outcry. (An independent investigation found no evidence of “racial animus” on the part of administrators. It did find “a poisonous atmosphere in which employees are fearful of challenging the higher-ups.”) Recall, too, that Billman was subjected to a racial epithet from the grandfather of one of his wrestlers at a state tournament.
Members of Easton’s black community consider this latest job action an outgrowth of racism in the school district, and many of Billman’s wrestlers are rallying to his side. Billman himself has had enough. He announced last week that he’s suing the district, alleging that he was “subjected to a barrage of racist and discriminatory conduct” over his four-year tenure.
This is a sad outcome. While some are making the argument that Easton’s historic wrestling program deserves a coach who will lead the team to individual and collective glory year after year, measured in gold … well, times are changing.
In Lehigh Valley wrestling. And in the real world.
It’s time that the decision-makers in Easton step back and see the bigger picture - away from the glaring spotlight that is scholastic wrestling, fed by fans and alumni who see mere competence and winning records as failure.
Superintendent David Piperato issued a statement saying, “this decision was not racially motivated nor was it personally driven by any individual.” He said an evaluation of the wrestling program revealed “numerous problems including rules compliance, overall management of the program and general leadership.”
In a perfect world, such personnel decisions would be based on measurable performance - with the proviso that this is high school, not professional, sport.
And in a perfect world, they would be colorblind.
That’s what makes Billman’s exit hard to understand. He’s one the most successful wrestlers in Easton’s history. He’s well-regarded by the community. He’s won the respect of fellow coaches. If he doesn’t check all the boxes of the perfect coach, he plays to his strengths. He’s hired good assistants. His efforts to encourage girls to wrestle contributed to Easton forming a girls team. He has a winning record.
Perhaps the best summation of his success came in a tweet from an Easton wrestler, Braxton Appello:
“This seems odd to me but we’ve had 3 District titles, 4 Regional titles, 6 PA STATE medals (including a state finalist) in my 2 years of competing at the HS level. Now all of the sudden our head coach gets fired!? On top of that I don’t recall the #AD acknowledging us once.”
The competitive landscape has changed since Billman’s high school days. Who would have thought, a decade ago, that Bethlehem Catholic and Notre Dame would emerge as elite private-school programs, shoving into a top tier once dominated by Easton, Northampton, Nazareth?
Those “who’s up, who’s down” considerations are no counterbalance to what some see as a manifestation of racism - but that’s a big part of what’s driving Billman’s detractors. And they won the ear of those responsible.
Is race involved?
Who can say?
We can take the superintendent at his word.
We can listen to people like Marvin Boyer of the Easton Chapter of the NAACP, for historical perspective. He and others cite costly settlements in the district’s history that were reached with black administrators who accused the district of discrimination.
Kerry Myers, former school board president and longtime Varsity “E” Club President, said, “We’ve got to bring tradition back, and pride, back to our school district, because what’s happening to (Billman) has happened to many others.”
We have to wonder, will Billman’s departure be a watershed moment for Easton? Will administrators do more than speak to the need to hire minority teachers and coaches? Will they initiate discussions to hear those alleging discrimination, and set up a commission to investigate and recommend changes?
We’d like to think so. On the other hand, Billman’s lawsuit could, like so many before, end in an out-of-court settlement footed by the taxpayers with no finding of fact. Damages are won, but does the institution change?
In the simplest terms, the message Billman received from the front office is: We expected better.
This isn’t the end of the story.
The Easton community must expect - and demand - better from their school leaders.
Online: https://bit.ly/2Bes7I6
___
Some good can come out of the death of George Floyd
Harrisburg Patriot News
June 12
Great good can sometimes come out of the worst tragedies. We can’t bring George Floyd back. We can’t undo what killed Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. But we can make sure they didn’t die in vain.
We can make sure whatever killed them doesn’t kill again. Because what killed Floyd, Taylor, Arbery, and what continues to threaten millions of African Americans is not the single act of an angry cop. It’s racism.
The good that is coming from the death of George Floyd is seeing Americans of all cultures, classes and races unite around the simple ideal that all men indeed are created equal. Americans who may have once denied racism exists, ignored it when they saw it, or even contributed to it in their own little ways, even these Americans are now sick of living with the burden of prejudice and hate.
The death of George Floyd just may be doing what we thought impossible, bridging the partisan and cultural divides and uniting us as one nation, bound together by the highest ideals of mutual respect, simple courtesy and commitment to honoring the basic human dignity of all people.
We have seen signs of this coming together this week in the goodbye tributes to Republican Speaker of the House Mike Turzai, with Democrats and Republican lauding his years of service to our commonwealth. It came only a few days after he called for a special session of the legislature to respond to protests against racism and demands for police reform.
We have seen it with the NFL apologizing for not being more receptive to the peaceful protest that the simple taking of a knee represented.
And we have seen it with NASCAR boldly declaring it would no longer brandish the Confederate flag, a painful symbol of racism and oppression for many African Americans.
Former Lt. Gov. Mark Singel, himself a committed Democrat, says Republicans and Democrat now are working together in the Pennsylvania legislature to craft legislation on police reform. And he acknowledges with Charlie Gerow, a staunch Republican, that Democrats need to get on board with the criminal justice reform conservatives are actually leading – reform that will most directly benefit black and brown communities.
Most of all, we are seeing new signs of unity in the beautiful, masked faces of all hues taking to the streets to wave banners, hoist signs and shout, “Black Lives Matter.” Young people are leading the way and have the most energy and stamina, but older folks are out there, too.
Some marched in Washington in 1963. Some marched in Selma in 1965. And some even marched with the million men in 1995 who tried to tell us of the profound suffering of African American men in our society.
These marches told us black lives need to matter. They chipped away at the laws and policies that kept African Americans mired in poverty, denied affordable healthcare and quality education, redlined, lynched, and the targets of police who knew their brutality would be protected by bosses who looked just like them.
But not anymore. Or at least that is the hope. And that is the great good that could emerge amid the tragedy of the death of George Floyd.
Online: https://bit.ly/3efAVMk
___
FCC ignored China
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 17
A new Senate report has revealed that the Federal Communications Commission has failed spectacularly when it comes to monitoring Chinese telecom companies.
The result of a year-long investigation, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations “found that the FCC and ‘Team Telecom’ - an informal group comprised of officials from the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Defense - have failed to monitor” three major Chinese government-owned carriers that have “operated in the U.S. for nearly 20 years with little to no oversight from the federal government.”
And, according to the report, the Chinese government’s history of cyber and economic espionage means that it “may use telecommunications carriers operating in the United States to further these efforts.”
The FCC and Team Telecom took a “hands-off” approach to its overview of the three Chinese telecommunications companies. Changes in ownership and structure that should have thrown a red flag resulted in no reviews or additional monitoring.
It was only in 2017, after concerns related to China Telecom Americas’ store of U.S. customer data, that “substantive oversight” began. Even then, “Team Telecom appears to have relied on CTA’s written representations” regarding the data storage, according to the Senate report.
These actions, or lack thereof, are inexcusable. The FCC has failed to uphold its duty to protect the United States from bad actors it should be policing.
But Congress is also culpable. It took 20 years for Congress to realize that the FCC was not fulfilling its duties. Congress has essential oversight powers that it must exercise to ensure that agencies are responsibly performing their duties.
This incident, a failure all around, speaks to the need for motivated and attentive leadership in our federal bureaucracy, as well in Congress.
Online: https://bit.ly/37DgSFj
___
Please read our comment policy before commenting.