The sign and The Wall
To the editor,
I recently wrote a letter to the editor relating to the removal of the Trump name from the tallest structure in the city, on Broad Street. I was chided for my remarks, this one particular critic citing me for being “divisive” and “spreading hate.” That is patently absurd. If I had written that Benedict Arnold (a citizen of Connecticut) was a traitor, would he have called me out for being divisive and spreading hate for that, too?
What I was doing was expressing an opinion (by way of ridicule). We, as free citizens of this country, are blessed with the right to voice our opinions freely under the First Amendment — that’s what I was doing. This gentleman was obviously not in agreement with my views, and he is certainly entitled to that viewpoint, but free speech shouldn’t be squelched or censored as he was advocating.
I’d like to add one more thing. I happen to be the same age, just a few weeks older, than the 45th President of the United States. In 1968, following a student deferment, I was dragooned into the Army along with thousands upon thousands of other conscripts at the time. Donald J. Trump was not among us when we were in basic training at Fort Jackson (South Carolina). ( He had a bogus letter from a doctor, courtesy of his rich father, declaring that he had bone spurs. In addition to his taxes, we should demand to see x rays of his feet.) There were about 120 in my company during the fall cycle of that year, and except for a few (myself included), every man ended up in advanced infantry or advanced artillery before being shipped out to Nam. Which of those men may have taken Trump’s place I wonder? Maybe it was Garretson, my 18 year-old bunkmate from Indiana, who ended up on The Wall in the National Mall in Washington.
Art Dubow Stamford