Day’s word choice ‘deeply shameful’

While I hold many strong opinions about what I feel is best for New London, about politics in general and about The Day’s endorsement of Martha Marx for State Senator of the 20th district over incumbent Paul Formica — this letter is not for any of that. This letter is to address how ethically uncalled for and heartbreakingly unfortunate it was for me to read The Day’s editorial board refer to a woman running to advocate for our community as “slavish.” I will not address what the statement was made in reference to, because that does not matter either. What does matter is that the authors of this otherwise fairly researched and executed piece thought this was not only acceptable, but that the most appropriate way to describe this woman was as a “slave.”

The words you choose to use matter. As professional writers whose opinions are read, shared, and taken very seriously within the predominantly black and brown City of New London, I find this choice of words to be deeply shameful.

Alisha Blake

New London

Editor’s note: Our intent was to caution Ms. Marx, an organized labor leader — should she be elected state senator — not to do the bidding of the unions without question but to consider all interests, including business. In retrospect, we should have picked a more accurate and less emotionally charged word to express this sentiment.

Thoughts and feedback about the Opinion pages can be emailed to Editorial Page Editor Paul Choiniere at p.choiniere@theday.com or by using his Twitter feed, @Paul_Choiniere.