SATURDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
Free For All
DAVE PICKOFF/ASSOCIATED PRESS
James Baldwin in New York on June 19, 1963.It was deeply disappointing to
see the July 27 editorial “Gone to
the dogs” breathe new life into a
months-old personal smear — es-
pecially because it has been thor-
oughly debunked, most notably
and comprehensively by the Dal-
las Morning News. I’ve known
Brian Harrison, the “top HHS
aide” referenced in the editorial,
since we served together in the
White House in 2005. (Yes, his
government experience stretches
back more than 15 years, a fact
conspicuously absent from the
editorial.) I know Harrison to be
an effective leader and talented
policy professional. He is su-
premely qualified for his role, and
I sleep better knowing he is help-
ing lead the Department of
Health and Human Services dur-
ing the ongoing pandemic. I was
active in the Never Trump move-
ment around the 2016 election,
and I continue to be profoundly
troubled by many of President
Trump’s personal and policy ac-
tions. But when The Post ignores
critical facts and twists others to
fit a preferred narrative, it’s hard
not to feel a pang of sympathy for
the president’s protestations
about the rise of fake news.
B rian Bartlett, ArlingtonThe Post is
breeding
distrust
The July 16 news article “Congress poised to invest
billions in parks, conservation,” about the Great Ameri-
can Outdoors Act, reported good news for the Potomac
Appalachian Trail Club and all users of the outdoors.
The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club has worked with
the National Park Service for almost 100 years. Lately,
we have been concerned by reduced resources for the
parks and the resulting backlog of much-needed main-
tenance. The Great American Outdoors Acts promises
to put that right.
The article was wrong, however, when it claimed
that hiking trails in Shenandoah National Park “are
falling apart.” To the contrary, they remain some of the
best in the National Park Service system and are a living
tribute to the Civilian Conservation Corps that builtthem. Just ask any of the hundreds of Appalachian Trail
through-hikers who traverse the park every year.
Most of the 500 miles of hiking trails in Shenandoah
National Park, including 100 miles of the Appalachian
Trail, are maintained by dedicated Potomac Appala-
chian Trail Club volunteers who donate more than
20,000 hours of sweat and muscle a year. The novel-
coronavirus-related closing of the park will likely re-
duce those hours this year, but even as I write this,
Potomac Appalachian Trail Club maintainers are
working to keep the trails clear. As trail maintainers
say: “The mountain always wins, but not today.”
Joseph F. Lombardo Jr., Vienna
The w riter i s president of the
P otomac Appalachian Trail C lub.Shenandoah’s happy trails
SARAH L. VOISIN/THE WASHINGTON POST
A section of the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park in December 2014.I find it truly bizarre that the 5,000-word July 19
Washington Post Magazine article “Designing to sur-
vive” — however beautifully written — never once
substantively acknowledged the thundering herd of
elephants in the architecture “studio.” Racism, white
supremacy, white terrorism, artificial intelligence, con-
struction technology revolutions, politics, etc., just nev-
er come up as embedded parts of architecture.
The author compounded matters by reinforcing the
ideas of architecture being a disjointed collection of
strange-looking, free-standing buildings (often vanity
expressions of excess capital) and the “great man”
theory.
Without giving full weight to restructuring life, sys-tems and built environments around the achievement
of social, cultural and economic justice and parity for
people of the African diaspora, esoteric musings about
detached buildings are laughable. The issue equally
deserving of our attention is neighborhood, communi-
ty and city design, and building for justice and parity.
There appears to be a rising majority of people of all
persuasions who are truly committed to hearing and
reading about how architects and architecture might fit
into this agenda. Building millions of new affordable
houses and homes would have to be at the center of such
articles.
Melvin L. Mitchell, Washington
The w riter is an architect.A crumbling view of architecture
COURTESY OF STEFANO BOERI ARCHITETTI
A worker outside Bosco Verticale in Milan.Regarding the July 19 Book World review “James Baldwin
spoke eloquently to his era. Does he also speak to ours?”:
If Kenneth W. Mack cannot figure out “what exactly is the
disruption in the American story” that Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
believes we are facing today, then he missed the point of
“Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent
Lessons for Our Own.” The book identifies the disruption as
“this moment of disillusionment, of promise deferred —
especially to those young people of Black Lives Matter who
risked so much to change this nation” back in Ferguson, Mo.
Mack is convinced that the disruption involves presidential
politics, however, and so only reads a “gaping absence in this
book.”“ In his after times, Jimmy [Baldwin] understood that
something new was desperately trying to be born, but the old
ghosts had the baby by the throat,” Glaude explains. Those
ghosts include failure to see that “whiteness as an identity is a
moral choice,” a reluctance to “press the issue of white
supremacy,” an incremental approach. Loosening the ghostly
grip will require “big ideas and bold visions.... Our history
tells us as much because we have been stuck here before.” We
will remain stuck, though, as long as scholars such as Mack
cannot see anything bigger than electoral politics and as long
as The Post is willing to print a full 1,000 words on “our era”
entirely devoid of the expression “Black Lives Matter.”
Virginia A. Spatz, WashingtonThree missing words
In her July 17 Metro column, “They wanted their
stories told. What they heard back was ugly.,” Petula
Dvorak mixed apples and oranges. In the paragraph
noting Frederick’s population, she claimed it has a
sheriff who works with U.S. Immigration and Cus-
toms Enforcement. Actually, the law enforcement
agency for Frederick is its police department, which is
headed by a chief appointed by the city’s administra-
tion. Frederick County’s law enforcement agency is
the sheriff, who is an elected official over which
neither the city nor the county government has
meaningful control.
Dvorak maligned a city that does not work with ICE
and furthermore was not mentioned by anyone as
being responsible for racial profiling. If Frederick can
be considered Western Maryland, it is the most liberal
community in that part of the state.
Sam Ketterman, T imonium, M d.
There’s a new sheriff in town: No one
The July 13 National Digest item “Metal band
apologizes for mask-less concert” reported that
Great White (a faded rock band) apologized for
performing before a packed mask-less crowd in
North Dakota. According to the Associated Press, the
band is best known for a forgettable song called
“Once Bitten, Twice Shy.” Really? Isn’t the band better
known for the Station nightclub fire in West War-
wick, R.I., in 2003, which killed 100 people, including
a band member, when pyrotechnics lit the acoustic
foam insulation ablaze? And now it went ahead with
a packed performance before unmasked fans. I am
just speechless.
Leslie Miles, Bethesda
Once bitten, twice reckless
I was disappointed to see that the July 12 news
article “As racial reckoning reaches West Point, black
graduates recall experiences” did not mention Simone
Askew, a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Askew
graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 2018 and
was named a Rhodes scholar. In 2017, she became the
first African American woman to earn the role of first
captain, leader of the Corps of Cadets at West Point.
“Simone truly exemplifies our values of Duty, Honor,
Country,” then-Brig. Gen. Steven W. Gilland, comman-
dant of cadets, said in a statement. She has an inspiring
story of how she worked to rise to these honors.
Patricia Turner, Sterling
Duty, honor, country
I’ve always been disappointed by The Post’s Sports
desk for its lack of coverage of lacrosse, one of the
fastest-growing sports in the United States. It’s a
huge miss, especially here — home to some of the
best collegiate and high school teams in the nation.
This was further amplified when The Post failed
even to mention the opening games of Major League
Lacrosse and the area’s team the Chesapeake Bay-
hawks. ESPN found the game relevant enough to
televise, yet The Post — even with a limited number
of sports to cover — did not find it worth mentioning
the line score. (The Bayhawks beat the Philadelphia
Barrage, 16-11, in the opener of the MLL Tournament
on July 18 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.)
Sean Neary, Kensington
Lax on lacrosse coverage
I enjoyed the July 19 “Doonesbury” on the subject
of virtual diplomas — until I reached the last panel
that called the diploma a mimeograph because it
was purple.
Mimeograph used almost exclusively black ink.
Purple was usually as a result of using a 20th-century
spirit duplicating system called Ditto.
Leon Steinberg, Bowie
Purple prose? Ditto.
Philip Kennicott’s July 19 Arts & Style article
“Renovated MLK Library is a beacon of hope” was an
excellent review of the renovation of the Martin
Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. However, I’d like
to correct a major omission.
Whatever the exact delineation of responsibili-
ties, let’s give credit where it is due: Years ago,
Martinez+Johnson of D.C., together with the Dutch
firm Mecanoo, presented its design before the
Historic Preservation Office and the public. Among
the shortlisted D.C. architect presenters, it certainly
was the most thoughtful, civic and community-
minded. I remember the focus clearly: It ran counter
to other proposals, which emphasized commercial
add-ons and showy, less usable use of library-pur-
posed space. Martinez+Johnson deserves mention
for our flagship library’s rewarding finale.
Volker Zinser, WashingtonA fitting bookend
The July 12 “Flashbacks” comic strip about Thom-
as Jefferson’s early draft of the Declaration of
Independence sent me looking at the final version to
see if the Continental Congress had indeed stripped
out criticism of King George III’s support of slavery.
While there, I noticed this harsh criticism of King
George’s immigration policy: “He has endeavoured
to prevent the Population of these States; for that
Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of
Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage
their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions
of new Appropriations of Lands.”
When word gets out that King George is no longer
holding us back, Congress and the president can do
something to improve the broken immigration
policy we complained of more than two centuries
ago.
Nicholas Carrera, FrederickWe no longer have to conduct
ourselves by George
The July 15 Style article “NYT writer at center of
firestorm resigns” publicized New York Times opin-
ion writer Bari Weiss’s claim that she was bullied for
her views.
It stated that she claimed that some Times
colleagues “openly demeaned” her on the company’s
internal Slack messaging platform. It quoted Times
correspondent Rukmini Callimachi as saying, “But
the fact that she has been openly bullied, not just on
social media, but in internal slack channels is not
okay.” And it reported that Atlantic staff writer
Caitlin Flanagan tweeted that the way the Times
treated Weiss “is unconscionable. It’s not civil.”
I write on workplace bullying policy, so I know
policies address this. The National Institutes of
Health’s “Civil” policy states: “Remember that
factual, civil, professional criticism of your work is
not bullying.” (Some others have similar language.)
Minnesota’s “Respectful Workplace” policy states
that “disrespectful and/or unprofessional behavior
does not include... disagreements, misunder-
standings, miscommunication or conflict situa-
tions where the behavior remains professional and
respectful.”
With the many column inches allotted to this,
there was room for some examples to show what
happened. Yet the article did not provide a single
example of criticism, civil or uncivil, of Weiss. If she
was bullied, the article showed no evidence of it. It
missed an important part of the story.
Edward Stern, BethesdaSpell out the bullying
As an avid sports fan, I read the July 12 Sports
feature “Much more than sports venues, these are
the fields of our dreams,” a list of Post writers’
favorite sports venues, with great interest. Presum-
ing that the writers actually visited these locations as
a prerequisite for making the list, I noted the
absence of such legendary sites as Augusta National
Golf Club, Lambeau Field, Indianapolis Motor
Speedway and Madison Square Garden.
Tom Ryan, AnnandaleMissing sports venues
I enjoyed Carlo Rotella’s July 19 Washington Post
Magazine article, “They’re bringing back cheatin’
songs.” I would not have thought that I would read to
the end, with so much appreciation of the writer’s
skilled, engaging prose, a piece that at first glance
had no appeal to me. A great writer at the top of his
form and a subject well worthy of him: What a treat.
John Leo, Eden, Md.
Sweet harmony
I was surprised that the July 19 Outlook essay “To
stop gerrymandering, the House can deny members
seats” by former congressman Lee Hamilton, former
defense secretary William S. Cohen and National
Academy of Public Administration fellow Alton Frye,
did not engage with Powell v. McCormack, the land-
mark Supreme Court case on the House of Represen-
tatives’ ability under Article I, Section 5, Clause 1 of
the Constitution to be “the Judge of the... Qualifica-
tions of its own Members.”
In Powell, the court ruled that “in judging the
qualifications of its members, Congress is limited to
the standing qualifications prescribed in the Consti-
tution,” those being age, inhabitancy and citizenship
as set forth in Article I, Section 2, Clause 2 of the
Constitution.
Hamilton should be aware of this issue. He was one
of the 307 members of the House who voted to exclude
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. from the House in 1967, the
cause of this Supreme Court case.
I struggle to see how Hamilton, Cohen and Frye’s
plan conforms to Powell. Their essay would have been
much stronger had it addressed that glaring issue.
Jacob Rubashkin, Chevy Chase
The case of the missing case
RICHARD DREW/ASSOCIATED PRESSThen-Cadet Simone Askew in 2017.