To the Editor:

As I read about the proposed warehouse, it is understandable that we, the Newtown residents, have concerns about how it might affect our daily lives and environment, especially if we live in close proximity to where it is being proposed to reside.

NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) is possibly an instinctive response.

For me, it also conjures up images of all the predominantly Black communities that were literally destroyed by highways built for our convenience, and about how predominantly minority and low-income people suffer innumerable health crises due to polluted water, soil, and air resulting from toxin-producing companies residing in or near their communities.

Were these communities granted the same kind of opportunities to object to and possibly reject the projects? Of course not!

Do communities like Newtown appreciate their sacrifices?

I believe in free speech, the right to protest, and all other rights granted to us by the US Constitution. But surely we can reflect upon, rather than deny, that our country has a practice, in the past and if we’re being honest and realistic — also in the present, of sometimes not viewing all people as having equal rights.

The situation raises serious questions about who we are. It’ll be interesting to follow up on where the warehouse eventually gets built, if not Newtown. Is empathy becoming an endangered character trait in America? Are we so concerned about ourselves that we fail to consider the back yards of “the other?”

When you make your voices heard, which you absolutely have the right to do, please do not forget about the people who traditionally have had no or very little voice, or whose voices were disregarded for many, many projects over the years; and may you be driven by selflessness and the good of all.

Connie Cooper

Sandy Hook