(NOTE: Mr. Maxwell suddenly resigned on 11 November 2010 after three months on the job.)
Mr. Jim Maxwell, Publisher Mailed: 24 August 2010
256
Subject: My
Dear Mr. Maxwell:
There are some, for one reason or another, religion or economics, perhaps a combination of both, bound and determined to make Las Cruces an outpost of Christianity, thereby excluding the recognition and historical contributions of all the non-Christian Others by purposely using a modified Christian symbol to represent the city.
Many people come to this valley for their own particular reasons, while others arrive with a vague purpose as they would in any other city; some answering to the few available jobs, or health, and perhaps, to be in close proximity to relatives. Some are driven to believe the ‘bought and paid-for’ accolades of the wonders of
When a city promotes the fictitious stories surrounding its birth, its early years, and uses an ever growing variety of Christian religious symbols, at the expense of citizens who do not subscribe, nor march to those banners promoting a particular religion, the heart and purpose of the city is forever blackened. But that can change with some effort.
Your newspaper, the Las Cruces Sun-News, recently began publishing “Your Neighborhood Weekly Newspaper,” the My Las Cruces, with a not-well-thought-out, exclusionary, and thereby insulting, title that does not represent the cosmopolitan makeup of the city. It’s not ‘Our Las Cruces,’ a welcoming title, which would be more inclusive of all the various peoples of color, religions, non-believers, and worldwide cultures that exist in Las Cruces and makes it a city.
Aiding My Las Cruces is the fictitious belief in the promoted tri-culture of Anglo-Hispanic-Native American makeup of the city, county, and state. This is a pathetic example of views by the ‘ruling class’ as they decide the economically feasibility of their methods. Excluding the various peoples of color, this jaundiced view results in the promotion of the belief that Anglo means ‘white Protestant;’ Hispanic means ‘brown Catholic;’ and Native American means ‘conquered and made Catholic.’
The fourth ignored category of those of the supposed ‘ruling class’ is that of some well-blended ‘natives’ who oftentimes noisily claim sovereignty over the rights of newer citizens because of their own ancestors’ earlier arrival in the valley. And all the Others, non-Christian by choice or culture, exhibiting various hues of color by culture or nature…….basically ghosts-in-residence due to the illogical, traditional exclusion from newsprint.
My address is
As you know, a newspaper can do well by its citizens by reporting societal truths, and including all the various cultural groups, as it is in the position to lead the progress of the city. After all, this is the 21st Century and bigotry, exacerbated by local courts’ rulings, has no place where a program of outreach may be in order to some groups.
