Letters to the Editor: On Walsh's invitation to NMSU
On Walsh's invitation to NMSU
I am writing to register my dismay and disappointment that NMSU, my alma mater, is offering a platform for political commentator Matt Walsh. I am confident that the administration's decision extends a desire to enlarge the conversation about our historical present. But the invitation extended to Mr. Walsh represents, at best, a willful ignorance. It is, at worst, a tacit acceptance of the kinds of transphobic, regressive, and racially problematic content that Mr. Walsh regularly endorses in the name of “reasonable debate.” His talking points are inflammatory, deliberately dehumanizing entire swaths of your student population. Indeed, outside the campus are communities of people who are marked by differences that—although sources of solidarity, creativity, and coalition for many—Mr. Walsh’s discourse redefines as deficiencies.These are frightening times for trans and queer students, white and of color. And you have invited this bigot to speak on a campus that claims to encourage, protect, and nurture them. The totality of Mr. Walsh’s politics alone is enough to give anyone pause. For now, I hope you draw your attention to the blatant transphobia and hatemongering that he emboldens among his followers and will be exhorted during his “speech.” Living at the margins means learning how to bear the unbearable. What the administration is inviting to campus is not conversation. Nor is it “Being Bold,” or “Making Futures” to quote the NMSU motto. Because the futures referenced in that Aggie's motto are those future lives Mr. Walsh would gladly ignore or, worse, snuff out through violent insurrection.We as a community can do better.B. Lee-Harrison Aultman
NMSU lass of 2005
A note on gun violence
Five thousand. That’s the number of Americans who have been killed by gun violence since Joe Biden became president. That’s about 25,000 per year or 68 people per day. Do Republicans care? Of course not. They wouldn’t care if it were 100,000 people per year. And yes, school children are being killed every week by AR-15s but, hey, that’s the price we pay to defend the second amendment.
Republican politicians fear that their MAGA base will throw them out of office if they so much as think about “gun control” much less act to do anything about it. And let’s not forget that Republican politicians get a lot of campaign cash by protecting the profits of gun makers.
Fortunately, here in New Mexico, we have a fully Democratic congressional delegation that understands the need for sensible gun regulation and is pushing for it. Keep at it guys! And work on your moderate Republican colleagues if there really are any.
Doug Abbott
Las Cruces, NM
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Letters to the Editor: On Walsh's invitation to NMSU
