As someone with divergent strabismus, I
was rather disappointed to find people
with visual impairments made the butt of a
political joke in my local newspaper. I
would like to urge you to write a letter
to the editor of the austin
american-statesman. The statesman is the
most widely read newspaper in central
texas.
An editorial by arnold garcia jr. In the
editorial page (a15) of the austin
american-statesman of saturday, 29 january
2005, carried an insensitive remark about
people with visual disabilities.
Http://www.Statesman.Com/opinion/
content/editorial/01/29garcia_edit.Html
(you will need to register with the
statesman site to view the article.)
in particular, the comment I found
insulting was this one: "dodging and
ducking puts the governor in an awkward
posture, one aggravated by having to keep
one eye on newspaper headlines and another
on the calendar. All that could give a
give a guy a serious case of jack elam
eyestrain."
the late jack elam was a character actor
in numerous westerns and other movies.
One of elam's eyes turned outwards and
could even wander in its socket. Though
the cause of his condition apparently was
not congenital, elam looks like someone
with divergent strabismus. According to
one article, he was blind in the affected
eye.
About jack elam:
http://www.Imdb.Com/name/nm0
001181/
http:
//www.Cnn.Com/2003/showbiz/movies/10/22/ob
it.Elam.Ap/
the print edition of saturday's statesman
carried side-by-side photos of governor
perry and jack elam. The caption beneath
the images reads, "keeping one eye on the
legislature and one eye on the opposition
might give gov. Rick perry, left, a
walleyed jack elam look."
i don't know about y'all, but I consider
the term "walleyed" offensive.
You may email mr. Arnold garcia jr at
agarci
a@statesman.Com
you may email the editors of the austin
american-statesman at
editor
s@statesman.Com
mr. Garcia has written about racial
discrimination in the past, so I would not
want to insult him publicly. However, I
consider his remark insensitive and
indecent, and I would like to ask that
others join me in asking for his apology.
Preferably the apology will be printed as
prominently as the original editorial.
Mr. Garcia's comments do not represent
the attitude of the people of austin,
texas, home for a school for the blind and
a city known for its tolerance.
- gary
austin, texas
(i used proper capitalization above, but
for some reason many caps were converted
to lower case.)
