Dear Source:
Let me first respond to Victoria Williams. I am sorry. I have since learned that only two Senators participated in Thursday's KKK speeches. The other Senator, I understand, was Ronald Russell. I hope to God that some tabloid doesn't pick up on this stunt.
As for the Democratic Party I stand my ground. If you endorse a person you endorse his actions. I would love to see that same party comment on Thursday's happening.
And to Neville James: There is always a moral dilemma when you quote what other people say. In this case it was a handful of teachers in a downtown restaurant. They were angry at their organization for not stepping up and taking sides. I had the choice to quote or not to quote, and in a verbal war you tend to use the ammo you find. I'm sure you are familiar with that concept.
I'm a teacher myself, (T.H. Lang, Silkeborg, Denmark 1969) and I'm fully aware that everything you do as lawmaker reflects in the class room. In that sense a teacher is a first responder. This bill reflects badly all around, and that to me is the core issue. Had this bill not passed, we wouldn't have had this argument.
Since I have now, I hope, responded to your comment, kindly respond to this question: You have all admitted that the bill is a mistake, so why is it still there? Look what this bill has done. Everything bad that has happened started with the passing of this bill, even before we see the fall out of the actual bill. Why is it still not repealed? Explain please!
While I have my pen out, let me also answer another question. It has to do with motive: Why am I actively involved in the recall effort? As you may already know, I'm a Danish citizen and I cannot vote here. Thanks to my wife we have a nice little business. We work 60 hours a week and we are doing fine. We also have a wonderful house and 10 dogs (last I looked). So why should we even bother? We have friends on this Island who never read a paper and never listen to a talk show. They are perfectly happy, and I sometimes envy them. We could do the same, and I am sure there are one or two people on the Island who would like us to do just that.
I don't have a perfect answer. Maybe there is such a thing as a protest gene. In any case this is not the first time I find myself standing up for what appears to be the rights of others: Back in the sixties I put my heart and soul in protesting USA's involvement in Vietnam, even spent a night in jail after some violence broke out. I was also chairman of my hometown's Anti Apartheid Movement organization and I spent many after-school-hours collecting signatures to get Nelson Mandela out of jail. And the list goes on. You may know that in Denmark we have one of the best education systems in the World, far exceeding that of USA and on par with a couple of Asian nations. We also have free health care, no foreign debt to speak of and a soaring plus on the trade balance and no poor people. We are light years ahead of USA when it comes to alternative energy and technology to cope with the steady heating up of the planet. Add to that a government that actually works in the best interest of the Danish people, little or no corruption and you will understand why it is difficult to explain why we are here instead of living in that Pie in the Sky country of mine.
I'm truly sorry, but after 19 years on STX I still don't have an answer. And what's more, I'm not looking for one.
I may not be a Virgin Islander by some definitions, but I live here, and as long as I'm treated the same as everybody else, then that is just fine with me.
Steffen Larsen
St. Croix
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