Nov. 17, 2017, was the day my 25-year-old son Bijan Ghaisar was shot and killed by two Park Police officers, Alejandro Amaya and Lucas Vinyard. Bijan was a victim of a fender-bender who was rear-ended by an Uber Driver who was given a citation for the accident.
The criminal case brought by Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (D) and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) was dismissed by Senior U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton on the basis of “supremacy clause” immunity for federal police officers.
The Virginia attorney general and Fairfax County prosecutors appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Before the case was presented, and after Jason S. Miyares was elected attorney general, the Republican dismissed the case, contradicting his own prosecutors and a Virginia grand jury that had indicted the officers.
Miyares pulled the criminal case against the officers, who shot my son in the head four times, without so much as notifying our family. This is the same attorney general who ran on “victims’ rights.” In our case, he wrote that these officers had been through enough.
What about Bijan? What about his life? What about the fact that he was a citizen, born in Fairfax, and attended school and college in Virginia?
I am pleased that Miyares was not reelected on Nov. 4.
Kelly Ghaisar, McLean
Father knows best
George F. Will’s Nov. 6 op-ed, “Bill Gates’s climate rethinking is a gift to the world,” carried the nutshell summary “Showing intellectual responsibility, Bill Gates admirably adjusts his stance on climate change.” But after decades, Will still hasn’t adjusted his hostility to climate science.
Consider his 1998 op-ed “A good death,” eulogizing his dad, the philosopher Frederick L. Will, who labored for years on a scholarly book but came to see its argument as mistaken. “So he set aside the manuscript that was the fruit of his career until then, and began again,” Will wrote. “That unsung example of intellectual integrity is among Fred’s finest works.”
Will still seems distant from a comparable climate epiphany.
Steven T. Corneliussen, Poquoson, Virginia
When the pen is less mighty
I was surprised the Nov. 5 obituary for Edward Cody, “Globe-trotting correspondent at The Post was 82,” failed to mention that Haiti was among the trouble spots from which he reported.
That’s where I met him in the mid-1980s, when I was the U.S. Embassy’s public affairs officer and he arrived to cover unfolding events before and after the ouster of President Jean-Claude Duvalier. I was impressed with how Ed reported independently of other international journalists; how quickly he developed sources in a country that was new to him; and how he always seemed to get the most important details of the story right.
I recall as well that even though Creole was not one of the several languages he spoke, Ed managed to learn some of its colorful expressions. One of his favorites — which applies to other situations around the world today — reflected Haitians’ historical skepticism about promises made to them by their leaders and outsiders: “Treaties are paper, guns are steel.”
Jeffrey Liteman, Arlington
The music of the blight
As a longtime D.C. theatergoer, I appreciated Beryl Lieff Benderly’s Nov. 12 letter, “Support the Kennedy Center in its moment of need.” Arts patrons should not direct their anger at President Donald Trump by punishing artists. In fact, the president’s hostile takeover could result in a public benefit. The Kennedy Center has lowered prices on some performances after years of charging the highest among its peer institutions. For the recent run of “Parade,” the website provided an unheard-of $25 discount on orchestra seats, a welcome change for arts lovers and deal seekers who are often the ones filling seats at less popular performances. Unlike the National Theatre, Arena Stage and Shakespeare Theatre Company, the Kennedy Center does not offer any general rush pricing or lotteries. It has rested on its laurels, assuming an affluent, networked elite will always support it.
Instead of letting this crisis go to waste, the Kennedy Center should rededicate itself to its mission: “We welcome all Americans and creators and visitors from across the globe to discover, experience, learn about, be inspired by, and engage with the arts.” That means charging prices to lure as many patrons as possible from all walks of life. How ironic that the president who wants to make health care less accessible might expand access to theater in his backyard. I don’t know yet whether “the sun’ll come out tomorrow” for the Kennedy Center, but I do know about “The art of the compromise/ Hold your nose and close your eyes/ We want our leaders to save the day/ But we don’t get a say in what they trade away.”
Daniel Ben-Zadok, Chevy Chase
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The post Police killed my son. Virginia Republicans compounded the damage.
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