This letter is in response to your endorsements guide (EW, Oct. 18). You mentioned that you believed I had a “bold” strategy for buying the domain oregonstatesenate.com, and then filling it with typos. I am sorry and I am ashamed of myself for not having a better grasp of grammar.
I did the best that I could. I have received many messages calling me stupid.
While I could have been studying grammar, I was instead working for social justice with the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (Google them). This was in the early ’80s. I was also helping Harold Washington get elected in Chicago — the first black mayor in a city that was super-racist. I was 17 years old.
Later, I created a community based recycling program in Chicago that become the model for the citywide program. I was helping Larry McKeon get elected as the first openly gay, HIV-positive state representative in Illinois.
All the other papers were fair. Eugene Weekly was the only paper to reduce a lifetime of social justice work to grammar shaming. I can only imagine the effects that must have on under-educated minorities who might feel to stupid to be taken seriously if they decide to join the struggle for minority acceptance and community empowerment.
I am sorry I offended you with my poor grammar, but I am proud of my accomplishments for the LGBT, African and Latino communities while you were saving the world from improper punctuation.
Robert Schwartz
Springfield
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