MANY SCARED KIDS

I have trouble understanding the general outcry about the kid in Miami
being terrorized by his confrontation of death. As it happened death
backed off and said "Not yet" but millions of citizens were shocked by
the picture of his terror.

Do those millions think this is something new, some fresh escapade by
Waco Reno? Massive police raids with guns, clubs and handcuffs have
been going on for years. A day does not pass without some door in some
city in America being burst, some citizen manhandled, some children
shocked out of their wits and placed in custody of some institution.
The Miami caper, which now surprises so many people, is standard
procedure and has been for years.

I first learned, a long time ago, of such tactics occurring in
Germany. The operative word there was "Juden." All that was necessary
was that word on a piece of paper and the doors were smashed. Today,
in America, the word "drugs" is enough to do the same.

Elian Gonzalez was lucky, All he suffered was the terror of the
machine gun in his face. Thousands of other kids were not so lucky.
Some watched as their parents were cuffed, sometimes beaten. A few
watched as their parent's head was blasted away. Little Elian is but
one of many and he got off lightly.

Douglas N. Merritt,
Atchison, Kan.