LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
OPINION: Talk of the Town (or New America)
Trump excels at stirring up controversy
With respect to President Trump's suggestion that we change New Mexico's name, my initial thought was to ignore so inane a comment, but the issue should be addressed. How absurd!
This comes from a man who knows nothing about history or cultural identity, with no sensitivity to the eclectic world around him. He lives in a cultural vacuum: Traditions and cultural influences are absent, leaving him isolated from the guiding norms, values and creative expressions of society. Ignorance is bliss, and he 鈥� more and more 鈥� demonstrates how unpresidential he really is, and how he has contributed nothing to "America" (no pun intended).
He continues to divide our nation. Like a radio shock jock, he marvels at stirring up controversy. Just think how wonderful it would be for our country if, during his last two years in office, he were to "shock" America with rhetoric that would begin to unite us, instead of divide us.
Larry Larrichio
Albuquerque
Trump is trying to distract us from rising oil prices
President Trump proposes to change our state's name to New America as a distraction from his war in Iran, which has raised prices everywhere.
Today, four Trump $1 coins will almost buy you a gallon of gas in New Mexico, where the average gas price is $4.04. Like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, Trump is trying to turn our attention from rising prices. This gimmick has a dual purpose of distracting us from the costs for gas, food and healthcare, while spreading a false notion of white supremacy.
What鈥檚 next? Will he propose to rename each of the 24 states whose names have Native American origins? Over the last 171 years, beginning with Connecticut in 1788 and ending with Alaska in 1959, and including our neighboring states of Texas and Arizona, states have acknowledged the first people of America. Trump can鈥檛 erase who we are as a country: a multicultural, multinational, multicolored people that is strengthened and not weakened by our diversity. The renaming of New Mexico is about much more than the political divisions we are facing as Republicans and Democrats. It鈥檚 about who we are as a people.
Kay Monaco
Albuquerque
