Letters to the Editor
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‘Irish Illegals Disheartened’
To those who support the rights of immigrants, Rep. Peter King says, “If you break the law, you are a criminal.” But Mr. King introduced the bill that would make illegal immigrants felons [“Irish Illegals Disheartened by Rep. King’s About-Face,” Daniela Gerson, New York, April 28, 2006].
Isn’t this like saying, “If I (as a legislator) say you are a criminal, you’re a criminal”? Not an argument likely to persuade anyone of the speaker’s sincerity.
September 11 changed things, but not as much as Mr. King would have us believe. What it definitely did was give some politicians the chance to do what they wanted to do anyway before the 9/11 attacks. That amounts to a dramatic deprivation of civil rights, especially for foreigners and immigrants.
The protection of immigrants’ rights is important. Treating immigrants like human beings is important. Mr. King’s bill is unnecessary and unjust.
MICHAEL J. GORMAN
Whitestone, N.Y.
‘”United 93″ Soars’
“United 93,” the new film that so movingly recreates this young century’s most notable day of infamy, is flying into an unseemly turbulence from some on the political left [“‘United 93′ Soars,” Davidson Goldin, Opinion, April 27, 2006].
They apparently fear it will reawaken security concerns among Americans comforted by the Bush administration’s astonishing success at protecting us from further Al Qaeda outrages on American soil, and thereby revitalize Republican prospects in the fall elections.
How tawdry such partisan concerns must seem even to those who now act on them by seeking to marginalize this film and its celebration of bravery and sacrifice.
With terror yet all too threatening, and every reason to be grateful for heroes protecting us from its awful grasp, we can surely agree to lay politics aside for the brief length of this cinematic tribute to 40 such lost among the clouds.
RONALD GOODDEN
Smyrna, Ga.
‘The Museum as Mall’
To enter the new Morgan Library/Museum is to experience a frisson, like that affecting Parisians on first viewing the new Beaubourg [“The Museum as Mall,” Lance Esplund, Arts & Letters, April 27, 2006].
Mr. Esplund was partly correct in that this is no longer the intimate, somewhat dowdy antiquarian institution that we loved, but so what? It is a superb addition to museum space in New York, with facilities and amenities that will gratify the viewers and enable exhibition of loads of treasures that were locked away in vaults.
If one longs for memory lane, it is available in the easy access to the old wing where Morgan’s sanctum sanctorum is open for entry — no longer cordoned off.
I saw the great Memlings and Bellini for the first time. And the old library is as it was. I received a satisfactory dose of nostalgia and emerged to marvel at what has been wrought.
GOODWIN BREININ
Manhattan
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