Letters to the Editor

Many years ago, President Eisenhower drove through the Cove. He named it “The Land of Milk and Honey.” Sadly, if a dignitary visited the area today, he or she would call it “The Land of the Silenced.”

Over the last year I have seen numerous efforts by some citizens to silence anyone who is different than they are.

For example, several months ago a church in the Cove used the bulk of their endowment so in order to disaffiliate from their national church organization, and in that way, they could keep people they didn’t like or judged out of their pews.

It’s sad to think of all the people they could have helped had they used this endowment differently, such as for Christian charity.

A few months later we had an outcry from a few residents when a high school program on bullying was held. The outcry was because they didn’t “approve” of the lifestyle of one of the dancers, even though the program had nothing to do with that.

And now we have people objecting to a school choir singing A CHRISTIAN HYMN just because it happens to be a favorite of the African American community. The song’s title is Lift Every Voice and Sing. How ironic that the themes of the song are GOD, FAITH, HOPE and LIBERTY. There is absolutely nothing in the lyrics of the song that would make any student feel badly about themselves or anyone’s race.

I remember a time many years ago when people in the Cove held the above mentioned ideals in high esteem. Sadly, it doesn’t seem that way in 2024. There is no liberty when any voice is silenced.

George Dempsie

Huntingdon