Our readers speak out Ryan White
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Dear editor, Ryan White, the AIDS victim who made national and international news, died in April at the age of 18.
In many appearances on TV news and talk shows, White never separated himself from any of the other AIDS sufferers. Unfortunately, this was not the case with some of the media and politicians who portrayed Ryan White and other children with AIDS as victims deserving of assistance, while implying that the majority of those with AIDS-gay men— somehow deserve what they got.
In the same vein, statements of sympathy by President Bush and former President Reagan, who have done nothing to advance research into this grave disease, rang hollow to all of those whose lives have been touched by this fatal illness.
Ryan White often said that he only wanted to be treated like any other child and to live as normally as he could. He succeeded in doing that while helping with fundraisers for AIDS research.
S.O., San Francisco, Calif the truth about the financial status of the company?
"Some partnership! The words of some McClouth workers best sum up what they think of the ESOP: It stands for "'Employees Still Only Peasants!'''' G.B., Oakland, Calif Soviet Jews Dear editor, I found Michael Schreiber's two articles about the USSR in your April issue (based on his first-hand observations) fascinating. In large part, they confirmed things I have been hearing from recent Jewish emigrees to Brooklyn and the Bronx. But they also contained details, experiences, and opinions that are completely new to me.
From what I've read and heard, I can clarify and add a few points. Not only are rightwingers blaming Jews for the economic crisis and everything else that's wrong, they are also "blaming" them for "Bolshevism" and "Communism." Of course, this is an old tactic. During World War II, invading Nazis would ask, "Where are your Jews and your commissars?"
Everyone who arrives here is terrified of Pamyat. Everyone knows horror stories concerning this anti-Semitic group. But none of the people I've met has run into them or knows first-hand of someone who has. Pamyat certainly exists, but they appear larger than life.
It would seem that a massive rumor campaign is being perpetrated to make people mistrustful of one another. Both the size and the apparent goals of this campaign make me think that those