Letters From the May 3/10, 2021, Issue

Letters From the May 3/10, 2021, Issue

Letters From the May 3/10, 2021, Issue

Disability access… Where is the joy?… Calexit vs. the filibuster… Black sci-fi worldmaking…

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Disability Access

Re “Abolish Guardianship and Preserve the Rights of Disabled People,” by Sara Luterman [March 22/29]: I can speak to being in a school for the blind and visually impaired, having attended one for many years in Baton Rouge. Disability service systems are never designed to support persons with disabilities, but are about managing access to scarce resources.
David Faucheux
lafayette, la.

Where Is the Joy?

Re “The Lavish Pleasures of Natalie Wynn,” by Liza Featherstone [March 8/15]: Ms. Wynn is one of the few public figures who talk about cancel culture in a way that matters to me. I don’t care about Celebrity X or Pundit Y not getting a movie or book deal. I care about leftists going after other leftists, about activist circles getting ripped apart because we confuse our own painful dramas for attacks.

Vice President Kamala Harris gave a big tell that she wasn’t super far left in her acceptance speech when she said of the democratic struggle, “But there is joy in it.” I haven’t felt real joy from politics in a long time. I just want the left to work together for a better world and maybe for it to be fun in some parts.

James Jones

Calexit vs. the Filibuster

Nathan Newman makes a compelling argument in “The Case for Blue-State Secession,” but then he dismisses it as a “second-best solution” [Feb. 22/March 1]. Actually, his preferred solution of abolishing the Electoral College hardly has any chance for success, not to mention the adoption of a parliamentary system, whose superiority is demonstrated in Alexis Grenell’s column [“46 and Done,” Feb. 22/March 1].

The most realistic means for peaceful separation and avoiding another civil war is by a constitutional amendment. Convincing state legislatures or conventions to support this amendment is the best solution.

Walter L. Williams, PhD
California Independence Movement
palm springs, calif.

My own solution would be to abolish the Senate. Our system was poorly designed even for its times, but we are not going to become a parliamentary democracy, either. Filibuster reform is probably the most doable path.
Vince Slupski

Black Sci-Fi Worldmaking

Stephen Kearse does an exceptional job of placing N.K. Jemisin within the history of African American writers of science fiction and fantasy, even acknowledging both pioneers and current luminaries [“The Empire Is the World,” Feb. 8/15]. I was also pleased to see Christopher Priest included as part of that pantheon. Black creators who work almost exclusively on comic books or animated TV series, such as Priest and Dwayne McDuffie, are often left off lists of influential sci-fi and fantasy writers. Given that Jemisin herself now writes regularly for DC Comics, it makes sense for those names to be added to that conversation.
Dennis Doyle
st. louis

Disobey authoritarians, support The Nation

Over the past year you’ve read Nation writers like Elie Mystal, Kaveh Akbar, John Nichols, Joan Walsh, Bryce Covert, Dave Zirin, Jeet Heer, Michael T. Klare, Katha Pollitt, Amy Littlefield, Gregg Gonsalves, and Sasha Abramsky take on the Trump family’s corruption, set the record straight about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s catastrophic Make America Healthy Again movement, survey the fallout and human cost of the DOGE wrecking ball, anticipate the Supreme Court’s dangerous antidemocratic rulings, and amplify successful tactics of resistance on the streets and in Congress.

We publish these stories because when members of our communities are being abducted, household debt is climbing, and AI data centers are causing water and electricity shortages, we have a duty as journalists to do all we can to inform the public.

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Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel 

Editor and publisher, The Nation

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