Letter: ‘Golden was not “using a racial slur” but rather quoting the racist language that he had heard’

October 8, 2022

Regarding the article on Republicans (cynically) accusing Sen. Jeff Golden of using a racial slur: I am offended by the Ashland.news’ use of the term “racial slur” to refer to the use of “n” word when quoting racists.

It is clear from the context that Golden was not “using a racial slur” but rather quoting the racist language that he had heard and been subjected to himself. Taken in the context of a book written in 1971 by a 20-year-old anti-racist, anti-segregationist, there is absolutely no way that the quoting of racist language could be considered a “racial slur.” And Ashland.news should not have used that description in the story to describe what Golden wrote.

Benjamin Ben-Baruch

Ashland

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Two weeks after its first February meeting was canceled due to unsafe road conditions due to snow, the Ashland City Council takes up business Tuesday, Feb. 17, it had expected to handle on Feb. 4. Its Feb. 3 study session, however, which was also canceled, is still pending as Monday, Feb. 17, was Presidents Day.
Family, community members and longtime friends of Medford native Bill Thorndike Jr. were collectively at a loss for words over the weekend at the sudden loss of a man they say had a hand in nearly anything good to happen in Southern Oregon for much of the past half-century. Thorndike, 71, suffered a heart attack early Saturday morning, just following a Valentine’s Day spent with his wife, Angela Thorndike, at a family cabin on Whidbey Island in Washington’s Puget Sound.
About 150 people rallied on Ashland Plaza on Monday, part of a series of nationwide protests on Presidents Day, most organized by the 50501 Movement, which stands for "50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement," in a response to what organizers describe as "the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration."
It’s in the name: Cultural and economic revitalization of Ashland is at the heart of a three-year program proposed by a new nonprofit organization — the Ashland Cultural & Economic Alliance. Co-founders Matt Hoffman, Jim Fredericks and Lloyd Matthew Haines hosted a launch event attended by about 70 business, cultural and civic leaders Saturday evening in Meese Hall at Southern Oregon University to announce the formation of ACEA.
Adele Hiles, with the assistance of volunteer Linda Purdom, began her community involvement by going to the Children's World Montessori School to get handprints from about 35 of the school's children, plus some teachers and parent volunteers.
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