📢 Cascadia Voices 07/04/26

If you sense some mixed feelings about the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary this weekend — a recognition of its promise, a longing to restore greater pride in being American, yet concern over the country’s failings, past and present — join the crowd as it thrills at the fireworks.

My recommendation for regaining some optimism about community and country is to take a more active role in the issues you are most concerned about. Certainly, voting counts toward that merit badge. And CDN is here, of course, for your letters to the editor. But have you considered doing more on a civic level? Going to meetings of your city or county council, port, school boards, local commissions and advisory boards? Your presence and participation there can raise issues, support, objections and ideas that might not otherwise be considered.

But making that commitment to speak up isn’t always easy. What will you say? How do you best make your point? Where can you go to find support for your argument? What if people disagree with you? What’s the best marker for a protest sign?

All good questions. And CDN hopes to provide some coaching through a new monthly opinion column we’re calling Civic Minded, which was introduced this week.

Written by Bellingham resident Vesla Tonnessen, a civic engagement professional and public policy graduate student, it’ll take your questions on a range of subjects related to your role in our representative democracy. I’ll let her explain:

“If you have a city, county or state civics issue you want some help with, I’m your girl. If you’re experiencing a general existential crisis about the state of our democracy and want to rant at me, I might be your girl; but expect a wry response. I will be supportive, but you might also get a little gentle pushback or well-placed criticism. I’m not here to clap for you while you avoid the hard parts, but I promise I’ll be enthusiastic and (mostly) helpful.”

But she needs your questions and comments to get into those issues. Send your democratic dilemmas under the subject line “Civics Advice” to [email protected].

And enjoy the Fourth.

“The American Revolution we need today”: CDN’s weekly opinion section was boosted by our special America 250 section, which includes Tonnessen’s column and July 4-focused letters to the editor, as well as a special commentary by Western Washington University professor Johann Neem, who, as an immigrant and naturalized citizen, notes the divisions in the county and disagreement over its history and calls it heartbreaking “to see so many Americans losing faith in it when we need it more than ever.”

Neem notes the story of Lemuel Haynes — born poor to a Black father and white mother in 1754 in Connecticut — who joined and served in a militia in Boston. Haynes took the words of the Declaration of Independence personally, that all men are created equal, soon writing in his own manuscript that “Liberty is Equally as precious to a Black man, as it is to a white one.” Haynes, Neem writes, who would later become an ordained minister, recognized the contradiction between Revolutionary ideals and racial slavery, but understood what was possible for a new nation.

“We Americans have much to atone for, but we also have much to take pride in,” Neem writes. “For all its limits, our Revolution is worth celebrating. It belongs to every American. We Americans need to remember what our patriot forebears were fighting for on Lexington Green and in Concord and across the nation. We need to respect the sacrifice of men like Haynes.”

“Governor’s disrespect for clemency process extends mass incarceration”: Dan Berger, a professor at the University of Washington Bothell and author of an upcoming book on incarceration, notes that Gov. Bob Ferguson has granted few of the clemencies recommended by the state Clemency and Pardons Board, rejecting all for those currently incarcerated. That could be a waste of changed lives and state funds, argues Berger: “No doubt, many of the people who apply for clemency were convicted of heinous offenses,” he writes. “The seriousness of their offense is reflected in the long sentences they received. But clemency, much like parole in states where it exists, is not a comment on the convicting offense. It is an evaluation of whether someone has now proved themselves to be a safe and productive member of society. The convicting offense cannot change. But people can change, and do.”

“Western’s journalism program can play part in success of CDN, other news media”: Micki Jackson, a Whatcom County community and patient advocate, sees an opportunity for Western Washington University’s journalism department to take a role in supporting local journalism, specifically in helping CDN sustain its important work, through advocacy and public discussion:

“In my outreach to Western, I urged the department to consider affirming several foundational principles: the importance of maintaining a strong and enforceable separation between editorial and business functions; the central role of editorial independence in sustaining credibility; and the responsibility of news organizations to prioritize accountability reporting in the public interest,” she writes. “I also encouraged consideration of a constructive step forward: convening a public forum that brings together students, faculty, working journalists and community members to discuss the future of local news in our region.”

First and foremost, review your Washington Traffic Safety regulations: A bicycle is a vehicle and subject to the same rules and laws as your car or motorcycle, except in rare cases. That means ride on the right side of the road with traffic, not against it.

Second: Though we don’t have a state law requiring helmets, wear one. It could save your life. Nothing is more ridiculous than a family group with Dad (no helmet) in front, children with helmets, and Mom (no helmet) in the rear. Not wearing a helmet is not a sign of skill or maturity.

Three: Obey traffic laws and signal your turns. A hand and arm extended to the right, by the way, is an acceptable signal for a right turn.

Four: Be visible. Wear light-colored clothing, and have lights and reflectors on your bike.

Finally, vehicle drivers, a couple of years ago, Washington state passed a law requiring 3 feet of space between a car and a bike on the road.

Sandy Brewer
Custer

Read more letters to the editor here.

Submit a letter to the editor (250 words max) or guest commentary (500–800 words) online at cascadiadaily.com/submissions.

Last week's poll: Regarding Whatcom County's moratorium on permits for immigration detention facilities. During the one-year moratorium, the county should:

In "Five Words that Changed America," New York Times Opinion columnist Jamelle Bouie, like others, is reflecting on the sacred text of the Declaration of Independence, focusing on the phrase "all men are created equal," and noting that Thomas Jefferson saw those words as less of an affirmation of human equality and more as a claim regarding the nature of political authority. But others heard those words differently. Bouie expands on a number of Black Americans — enslaved and free — who seized on the document's rhetoric to demand a free and equal place in the new nation. Writes Bouie: "The use of the language of the Declaration and of the Revolution was not merely rhetorical: The point of these petitions was to push legislators to treat the opening words of their Constitutions and laws as more than preambulatory; to treat them as pregnant with real meaning and live consequence."

Biographer Ron Chernow asks, "What Would Mark Twain Think of America at 250?" in The Atlantic. Chernow, who has a biography of Twain out now, writes that the American author and satirist was, of course, complicated; critical of greed and corruption but not above adding to his own wealth. As to what Twain would think of today's America, Chernow shows it's not hard to guess: "He was certainly no stranger to presidents with outsize egos and constant cravings for attention. When Twain lunched with Theodore Roosevelt, he was dismayed that the president dragged in his Rough Rider exploits in Cuba three or four times. Twain thought Roosevelt overrated and called him 'the Tom Sawyer of the political world' because he was 'always hunting for a chance to show off; in his frenzied imagination, the Great Republic is a vast Barnum circus with him for a clown and the whole world for audience.'”

A Conflicted-But-Proud Playlist for America 250: "Fanfare for the Common Man," Leonard Berstein and the New York Philharmonic; "America," Simon & Garfunkel; "Respect," Aretha Franklin; "I Loves You Porgy," Nina Simone; "You Fascists Are Bound to Lose," Billy Bragg & Wilco; "Bang the Drum Slowly," Emmylou Harris; "Graceland," Paul Simon; "I Shall Be Released," Bob Dylan; "Song to Woody," Bob Dylan; Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic; "The Beautiful American," Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington; "Jackson," Lucinda Williams; "Ohio," Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; "From Hank to Hendrix," Neil Young; "The Star-Spangled Banner," U2; "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,” Bob Dylan; "Anything I Say Can and Will Be Used Against You," T-Bone Burnett; "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," King Curtis; "California," Joni Mitchell; "Casey Jones," Grateful Dead; "This Is Us," Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris; "Battle Hymn of the Republic," Odetta.