Dear Editor,
I appreciate honesty and integrity in general. Furthermore, I support the ideals upon which America was founded: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I support the NAACP and the ACLU.
Call me a flaming liberal or a moral-deprived radical, but I see nothing wrong with championing organizations that uphold and protect God-granted rights, regardless of race, class, gender, or religion. I see no shame in pledging my advocacy to a political party concerned with these rights rather than voting for some generic puppeteer to the corporate-driven bureaucrats.
Perhaps Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are not as “keelhauled” as Kathy Lee Gifford or Brittany Spears because they are not involved firsthand in sweatshop labor practices. Perhaps we (who in all likelihood purchase and therefore drive the production of sweatshop goods if we shop at Nike, Mervyns, The Gap, etc.), as consumers, are somewhat ignorant to the suffering of the cheaply purchased laborers or more concerned with our name-brand warm-ups than children working 18-hours days far, far away in third world countries.
It is our responsibility as consumers but more importantly as a democratic republic to protest anything that threatens fundamental human rights. Perhaps we, in our worship of professional athletes, have chosen to overlook indirect involvement whenever we can. Perhaps Nike, as a multi-million dollar corporation and conglomerate to the masses, boasts more clout with the media, the bureaucrats and the Nike-sporting American public. Thus is a more evasive target. Perhaps it’s time to put away that tired black versus white card and look for a real reason.
Because you see, we liberals not only decry sweatshop labor, we also decry the corporations that perpetuate the atrocity, an art form conservative republicans have yet to master.
Sadly, racism and bigotry are as notorious as sweatshops. Lets not cultivate them.
Melinda Nevarez
Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.
