Newsletter: Speaking out because we love it here, looking for bold action on environment

Sherman Smith | Editor in Chief

Good morning.

I’m excited to introduce you to our new opinion editor, Clay Wirestone, whose first article for us is featured in today’s newsletter.

When we launched Kansas Reflector, I wrote about how I ended up in this position in part because “I knew somebody who knew somebody.” I knew Clay, having met him in 2016 when we both worked for the Topeka Capital-Journal, and Clay connected me with the wonderful leadership at States Newsroom, our parent organization.

Clay and I share a vision for building upon the work of former opinion editor C.J. Janovy. That includes expanding our network of contributing opinion writers and providing a forum for Kansans who often are excluded from public policy conversations. (If you are interested in raising your voice, email Clay at [email protected].)

A little about Clay: He graduated from the University of Kansas and has written columns and edited reporting for newsrooms in New Hampshire, Florida and Pennsylvania. He also has written for PolitiFact, Mental Floss, cnn.com and other publications. If you ever meet him, ask about being a researcher for Larry the Cable Guy.

For the past four years, Clay was communications director at Kansas Action for Children. He lives in Lawrence with his husband and son.

“The people of Kansas matter to me, and I plan to reflect their diversity, grit, and caring — not only in what I write, but what the opinion section publishes.” — Clay Wirestone, announcing his arrival via his Twitter account.

Want to make Kansas a better place? That means raising our voices for change

Kansas is for all of us.

This singular place, where so many Kansas Reflector readers and contributors live, is our home. We have every right to raise our voices and ask for a better, more tolerant, more just state. For many of us, doing so isn’t just a right. It’s an obligation.

We’re often told the opposite, to shut up and sit down. But we shouldn’t silence ourselves to make others comfortable. More than a half-century ago, a columnist named Sydney J. Harris summarized the challenge in a piece headlined “The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense.”

You should read the whole thing, but the column can be summed up in a paragraph.

“Most people who want to change conditions do like it here: they love it here,” Harris wrote. “They love it so much they cannot stand to see it suffer from its imperfections, and want it to live up to its ideals. It is the people who placidly accept the corruptions and perversions and inequities in our society who do not love America; they love their status, security and special privilege. … Nobody should be faced with the mean choice of accepting conditions as they are or abandoning the place he has grown up in.”

Harris was writing about American society in 1969. What’s astonishing is how applicable it is for those in Kansas trying to make things better today. Folks point out problems, and too many politicians and members of the public react by attacking those doing the pointing out.

Kansans face destructive forces aplenty. Hard-right ideological interests, backed with corporate cash, dominate our politics. Laws are written behind closed doors and jammed into shells during late-night sessions. Public input is avoided at nearly all costs. A state that was once known for its moderation and temperance has become, too often, a wannabe member of the confederacy. Read more.

Environmental justice advocates look to historic $3.5T spending bill for bold action

Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration want to use their massive $3.5 trillion spending plan to help communities that have been devastated by environmental pollution and degradation. Read more.

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