FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com DECEMBER 3, 2015 • THE QUEENS COURIER 31 oped Tell me it isn’t so... A l etter from the publisher How can Cumulus Media take from the airwaves the most powerful and bestknown Latino-American broadcaster? It shocked me to hear that Geraldo Rivera is off the air. How can the strongest voice for a multitude of audiences be silenced? He is a critically important advocate during this election year where immigration and “the Trump factor” are before the voters. Is this to make Cumulus’ stock price go up? More listeners will be lost, advertising dollars will be lost, in a critical time. Throughout his career, Rivera took the mic both on and off camera to advocate for issues affecting millions of people, from exposing the horrors of state-run institutions NO TIME TO WASTE IN DEFEATING ISIS The attacks on Paris was a declaration of war not only against the West but against all nations that are deemed not a supplicant to ISIS. Many have speculated how the nations of the world would react to an alien invasion. ISIS is the alien among us that has struck. NATO with the aid of others, Russia and China, could easily retake Raqqa, Mosul and Fallujah. Citizens comprehending the imminent threat would support destroying the strongholds of ISIS. Seeking out and killing not only the leaders of ISIS is now mandated but terminating any member of the group as well. Individuals who pledged allegiance to ISIS must be removed like a cancer. Immediately, all nations should declare any of its citizens who went to fi ght with ISIS have had their passports null and voided, stripped of their citizenship and deemed an armed danger and treated accordingly. It is also inevitable that the attacks have ended migration to the West by refugees and asylum seekers. Rather than running from the ISIS threat it is time for these people to fi ght their enemy. The problem with putting boots on the ground to achieve destruction of the ISIS strongholds is the stumbling block. As learned from Afghanistan and Iraq, winning a battle is easy for the West but unless it is willing to hold the ground for an indefi nite time, the war could never be won. Whether there is the courage by leaders to confront this fact and to state it clearly to voters is truly where the future of this fi ght remains in question. Ed Horn, Baldwin ‘SHAME’ ON CONGRESSMAN FOR REFUGEE REFORM BILL VOTE Dear Congressman Israel: Now you’ve done it. I always knew that you were not one of us in Queens but certainly your recent vote for the American SAFE Act betrays our diverse population. Do you actually think that Syrian refugees, mothers with children and hardworking fathers would damage our country? (My family might not have been allowed into America under your rules — and perhaps neither would yours). The Queens delegation got it right. Our congressmen, to a person, understand that the small number of people who would be allowed to enter the U.S. have been fl eeing terror. Shame on you. Sandy Delson ON SELECT BUS SERVICE COMING TO FLUSHING There’s a problem when SBS routes share a segment with local service. Short-distance riders may not care that much whether they board a local or a limited, but SBS forces them to guess in advance which route’s bus is going to show up next. In this case it would be a passenger willing to take the Q44 or the Q20, whichever comes fi rst. On Woodhaven Boulevard it would be the Q52 or Q53 vs. the Q11 or Q21. I don’t know if there’s a reasonable solution to this. QNS user Harvey Wachtel REGARDING ONE OF CITY’S ‘WORST’ LANDLORDS IN SUNNYSIDE Why is this guy and the agency he works still in business? It’s way too bad that the City Council doesn’t take these despicable matters into consideration when they agree to allow landlords to raise rents. This situation involving Harry Silverstein & Woodside Associates should be posted on every social media that can be found including YELP. The list of the city’s worst landlords should also be posted as well on community bulletin boards. I know I’ll be posting it. QNS user Tillman STILL FED UP OVER SLOW FLUSHING BRIDGE FIX Vote these bums out! Everyone who lives in Flushing has been used as a pawn while politicians did nothing. The corrupt construction company got away with this job, the politicians will give their friends in construction jobs millions more and the people are inconvenienced for years. Vote these bums out! QNS user Chicklet The Gift of Opportunity Support the journeys of the ‘Men in Blue’ BY GEORGE MCDONALD A few weeks ago, a young man stood on stage in front of hundreds of people who had come together to do something about our city’s homelessness crisis. His name was Angel Lopez, and he was just months away from graduating from Ready, Willing & Able — the work program my wife and I created around our kitchen table nearly 30 years ago. He trembled at the podium at fi rst. But as he talked about the tragedies in his young life, it was all of us in the audience who were at a loss. Angel’s mother was a drug addict and his father was incarcerated. He was shuffl ed from foster home to foster home, each more violent than the last. By the time he was a teenager, he had spent more time behind bars than in a classroom. After he was reunited with his mother, she sent him into the streets to earn money for her drugs. Eventually, he was homeless. I’ll never forget how he described it: “I was 25 years old, sitting in a city shelter. I was scared. I was lonely. I had become what everyone told me I was: nobody. Then came The Doe Fund.” Angel didn’t come to us for a handout. He came to us for an opportunity: the chance to go to work and learn the skills that will support him and his future family. Angel spent a year living in one of our Centers for Opportunity and, as one of the “men in blue” of Ready, Willing & Able, helped clean more than 170 miles of our city’s streets and sidewalks. He said, “When I was selling drugs, I was destroying the community. Now I’m cleaning it up. And it just feels good.” Angel’s story proves something we’ve known for 30 years. Poverty, drug use, incarceration and homelessness are all facets of the same problem: the devaluing of human beings. It’s resulted in an explosion of street homelessness in New York, and it’s fi lled our prisons with unrealized human potential. When Angel was offered his fi rst real opportunity, he seized it and built a new life for himself. And he’s not alone. Twenty-two thousand men have come through our doors and chosen an honest day’s work over a life on the streets. That’s the miracle of “human capital”—the inherent value in all of us, waiting to be unlocked. There is no secret formula. We simply provide the opportunity to go to work, to learn and to become contributing members of our society. The men we serve do the rest. How Angel ended his story has stuck with me ever since. He said, “One day, I’ll have my own family. And I’ll be the father to them that I didn’t have. And they won’t grow up afraid. And they’ll always know how much value is inside them. They’re going to have all of that, because of what I got at The Doe Fund.” If you believe, like we do, in the inherent value of all human beings; if you believe that the homeless should have the opportunity to support themselves and their families; if you simply believe in Angel and his courage — then please support the journeys of The Doe Fund’s “men in blue.” George T. McDonald is founder and president of The Doe Fund, a 30- year-old New York City-based nonprofi t organization that provides paid work, education and transitional housing to the formerly homeless and incarcerated through its award-winning Ready, Willing & Able program. To learn more and donate to The Doe Fund, visit doe.org letters & comments for developmentally disabled persons to supporting causes that put the light on challenges that people face. It’s a disgrace that such a valuable voice has gone silent on the radio over something as frivolous as a salary. As a media company owner, I know how important stars are in my constellation. They make me shine! I hope Cumulus can fi nd a way to let Geraldo’s passionate, professional and intelligent voice continue to be heard. He will make Cumulus’ star, and its stock price, soar. He is needed on the airwaves. I encourage our readers to call WABC radio, (212) 613-3800, to raise your voice in protest too. Victoria Schneps-Yunis
QC12032015
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