This Week's Letter
<NAME & ADDRESS REDACTED>
Highlands Tex
77562
To K.P.F.T
I really admire your courage to broadcast communist propaganda in this country with millions of Viet-nam vetrans who are committed to your protection under constitutional rights.
Of course, you are useing your constitutional rights to destroy ours.
But the day ours are destroyed then your protection will also fall. Then by contrast, people, ( your kind ) will think Lt. William Calley was a nice guy.
Thanks
D<REDACTED>
Editor's Note
Received at the station on April 13, 1977, this letter damns with faint praise, makes veiled threats, and calls back to one of the darkest moments in the history of the Vietnam War.
William Calley, for those unfamiliar, was the ranking Army officer at, and only man convicted for, the Mỹ Lai Massacre.
Although KPFT lives under the constant pressure of financial (in)solvency, it is worth remembering that a commitment to free speech means that sometimes things go out over the air that generate intense negative responses.
This letter writer at least was willing and able to channel his feelings into communication and not bombs or bullets.
As always, comments, corrections, and additions are welcome. Contact Us
About The Mailbag
The letters posted here were among the boxes recovered from 419 Lovett Blvd, as documented in The Mighty 90 Project post and are reminiscent of the work done at Found Magazine and PostSecret. The vast majority of letters date from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, although some newer materials of more recent vintage have been supplied by programmers.
Historically KPFT would, on occasion, read letters on the air and in some cases the letter writers explicitly ask NOT to be so presented. Attitudes towards consent and personal privacy are very different in 2022 as compared to the time these letters were mailed and no one then writing could have imagined the modern internet, much less this type of public sharing.
Accordingly, whenever a letter has personally identifiable information from a correspondent it will be lightly redacted to protect the privacy of the original author.
