THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605240005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 24 lines
Rarely have I read such a mean-spirited, bigoted and profane attack on a group of helpless, disenfranchised citizens as ``Real mothers and others'' (editorial, May 12). The title itself smacks of a lack of compassion and the will to find an inclusive arena in which to address the plight of children who are themselves the victims of entrenched poverty.
These children are preyed upon by every opportunistic power in their frightful environment, and you would have us write them off as authors of their own fate. A marriage license would ameliorate their circumstance? Courses on abstinence and how to say no?
The term ``family values'' has become the weapon of choice in the right to bear arms against those who threaten the prosperous. Hillary Rodham Clinton did not invent the idea that it takes a village to raise a child, but she did remind us, and you have missed the point.
BONNIE RUTH BEEBE
Portsmouth, May 13, 1996 by CNB