Editor, Ceres Courier,

You reported on your journal piece “Looney fringe has race for mayor all about race,” that Ceres community member’s concerns regarding upcoming mayor elections were associated with being “under the spell of Blacks Lives Matter” which resulted in the shutdown of comments on your Twitter and Instagram accounts; then you proceeded to refer to the community members as “spoiled 13-year-olds” for expressing concerns and raising awareness on social media which you stated was made all about race. This is ironic because as you complain about the opinions of community members you are simultaneously using your platforms as a tool to suppress the voices of community members simply for expressing views that do not align with your own. As a Latinx community member, I do not think these opinion based articles should be published in the Ceres Courier to amplify the voices of the white majority and erase minority voices. Historically, our voices and experiences have been erased or modified, so to see this happening in my own community and to my own people is dehumanizing, problematic, and overtly racist. What people don’t realize is that these articles matter, how you depict us matters because you are feeding a dominant narrative that has been used and continues to be used to perpetuate discrimination. One thing that could really make a difference is if instead, you removed any bias by including the voices, opinions, and experiences of ALL people regardless if they differ from your own. Our experience based on our identity in this society is crucial if we want to create a more safe, accepting, and caring community.

 Bryanna Zuleta

(Editor’s note: As explained in my column, we shut down the comment section on our Twitter posting because of the vile, highly inappropriate and libelous nature of the comments posted about the candidate and family, not about, as you say, amplifying “the voices of the white majority and erase minority voices.”)