An Open Letter to Mr. Salcido of El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera California

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NOTE:  I originally wrote this letter on my blog, thedailylibertarian.com, on January 27th, 2018.  Since that time, this letter has been read and shared by over 500,000 people, and was read directly to Mr. Salcido at a Pico Rivera, California city council meeting.

Gregory Salcido has been fired as a teacher at El Rancho High School, but he still sits on the Pico Rivera City Council, where he can still use his hatred of the military to mold public policy.

Mr. Salcido no longer works in his old high school, so the location of the debate may have to change.  I want to be clear, however, that I am happy to meet Mr. Salcido at a location convenient to him, where I can embarrass him in front of those who respect him the most.

How about we debate at one of your city council meetings, Mr. Salcido?  I’d love to debate you in front of your colleagues and constituents.  My terms are simple: if you win, I’ll offer a full retraction, and if I win, you’ll wear a Marine Corps tee-shirt to a press conference, where you will publicly apologize to the student you berated, as well as to everyone else who heard your rant.

Please help me pressure Gregory Salcido into doing the right thing, by sharing this letter once again.  Share it far and wide.  Let’s exceed the 500,000 people it reached last time!

#debatemesalcido

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January 27, 2018

Dear Pico Rivera School District,

One of your teachers – Mr. Salcido, of El Rancho High School – recently went viral on Facebook making disparaging remarks about the United States Marine Corps, after one of his students wore a Marine Corps sweatshirt to school. The student taped Mr. Salcido’s comments.

I would like to formally challenge Mr. Salcido to a debate. I spent four years in the Marine Corps Reserve, and another four on active duty in the Army. Based on Mr. Salcido’s comments, I must be one of the most uneducated idiots in the world for having spent two tours of service, in two separate branches of the military, and then to have left the military without so much as a pension. As such, I am sure Mr. Salcido can prove his point, in front of an audience – and online – on stage against an actual Marine. I was also an enlisted man, which should further assuage any fears Mr. Salcido may have in matching wits against me.

I do not want Mr. Salcido to walk in blind, so I will give a little background on myself. I am a two-service veteran, with twenty four years experience in process improvement roles, having served as the E-Commerce Manager, IT Manager, and Director of Business Systems for a variety of medium-to-large manufacturing companies. I hold a Bachelors of Science in Networking and Telecommunications from the University of Phoenix, and an MBA with an emphasis in Lean Manufacturing from the University of Michigan. I am currently finishing a Masters of Science in Lean Manufacturing, at Kettering University. I am a published poet and essayist, as well as the Editor in Chief of the blog, thedailylibertarian.com. I am the author of the book ‘The Way Forward: Lean Management,’ and am currently working on my second book, which has the working title, ‘Lean Governance’.

I’m a bit rusty at debate, but I was a debate champion in high school, many years ago. I suggest an unmodified Lincoln-Douglass debate format, with no moderator other than someone to keep time.

I would love the opportunity to meet Mr. Salcido so I can better understand how weak and uninspiring our military really is, and how dumb the members and veterans of our armed forces really are, myself included. Perhaps we can have dinner, and then have the debate in the auditorium of his High School. Being a Marine, I would prefer to debate him on his own turf, so I can embarrass him in front of his students, his friends, his family, and his colleagues. I want to leave no stone unturned – I want to expose Mr. Salcido, publicly, as the intellectual fraud he is.

Some topics that I might suggest include:

Are members of the military (and veterans) less intelligent than are members of the overall population? I will take the no position and Mr. Salcido can take the affirmative position.

Resolved: The United States should disband the military. I will take the negative position, and Mr. Salcido can take the positive position.

Are members of the military (and veterans) incapable of receiving an education? I will take the negative position, and Mr. Salcido can take the affirmative position.

Is the military necessary? I will take the affirmative position, and Mr. Salcido can take the negative position.

Does the United States have the most powerful military in the world? I will take the affirmative position, and Mr. Salcido can take the negative position.

Mr. Salcido may have some ideas for debate topics as well. I would love to hear them.

If Mr. Salcido accepts my invitation, I will open a gofundme account, and ask my fellow veterans to fund the trip. This will also likely lead to a fair amount of interest in watching the debate among veterans.

If you could forward this challenge to Mr. Salcido, I would appreciate it, as I do not have his e-mail address. To be completely honest, I would appreciate it more if you could fire him for cause. Having a high school teacher denigrate our armed forces to his students, and having him berate a student for wearing a Marine Corps sweatshirt to school – frankly your entire school district should be embarrassed and ashamed of this conduct, and particularly when one considers that Mr. Salcido’s right to say such things stems from the sacrifices of more than 683,000 men and women who bravely gave their lives defending this nation, as well as the countless millions more who served our nation with honor and distinction. Who is Mr. Salcido compared to these many millions of brave men and women?

Luckily, while someone has a right to say pretty much whatever they want, they also can be held accountable for what they say. Mr. Salcido said these things to students who look to him for knowledge and inspiration, and who are far too impressionable to be subjected to such willfully hateful lies and deceit.

If you will not do the honorable thing, in firing Mr. Salcido for his comments, then please allow me to do the honorable thing, in making him look as dumb and naive, in front of an audience, as he claims I must be.

I will thank you in advance for your prompt attention, and will look forward to your reply.

One final note – I am posting this e-mail, along with your e-mail addresses, on Facebook, and on my blog. I will do everything I can to bring as much attention to this situation as possible, and will encourage my followers to do the same. I will use the hashtag, #debatemesalcido.

Oh – And I want to stress again that I would have copied Mr. Salcido on this e-mail directly if I only had his email address. If you could forward it to him on my behalf, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again,

Wallace Garneau

PS: Feel free to visit my blog: thedailylibertarian.com

This letter was sent to the following e-mail address, at 11:00 AM EST, on January 27, 2018.  Feel free to reach out to them too, asking them to accept the challenge.

tmerino@erusd.org
gorosco@erusd.org
avillon@erusd.org
joselara@erusd.org
ldelao@erusd.org

You can see the videos of Mr. Salcido at the following link:

https://www.facebook.com/kimberlie.flauto/posts/10215001109124489

And use #debatemesalcido on Facebook and Twitter!!

Update – A viewer was kind enough to give me Mr. Salcido’s e-mail address.  I just forwarded the letter directly to him.  His e-mail address is gsalcido@erusd.org.

Update – I have now sent this letter to the Pico Rivera city council, of which Greg Salcido is a member.  Thank you to those who suggested I do so!