Clifford Donn, of Nelson, is a professor in the department of anthropology, criminology and sociology at Le Moyne College in Syracuse.

By Clifford Donn | Special to Syracuse.com

In response to the commentary by Alex Angelillo (“Choose Liberty and Prosperity: Leave Upstate New York,” July 7, 2019):

I answer as someone who left Tennessee to move to Upstate New York many years ago and who has never regretted that decision.

What did I find when I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee? I found lower state and property taxes and, for the most part, nice, hard-working people. I also found a despicable lack of public services (we even had to pay to subscribe for fire department protection for our home), terrible public schools, a terrible public university system that, despite good faculty, demanded little of its students and provided little education. (I taught at the flagship university of that system so I experienced this firsthand.) I also found a culture that was much less welcoming to diversity than I hoped. The fact that I adopted an Asian child while I lived there, and was apprehensive about raising him in that community, played a role in our decision to move to New York.

In addition, I found a community in Tennessee where among the most common reasons people went to the emergency room were gunshot wounds! I was constantly afraid (and the statistics indicated I was right to be afraid) that any dispute with a neighbor or another driver would result in fatal consequences. As someone who teaches criminology to college students, I have seen the very clear and compelling evidence that looser gun laws result in more violent crime and, in particular, more homicides and more suicides. I experienced that firsthand in Tennessee.

What did I find when I moved to Upstate New York? I found higher state and property taxes and, for the most part, nice hard-working people. I also found pretty good public services, good public schools where my kids received a good education, and a good public university system where students get a good education (two of my children graduated from the SUNY system and the other two went to excellent private universities in New York). My Asian son grew up in a community that accepted him and embraced him and he had many friends and excellent experiences. Racism was the exception rather than the norm.

I also found a community with a much lower rate of injuries and deaths from firearms than the one where I lived in Tennessee. I worried less about my kids and less about myself.

So, I paid a lot more in taxes than if I had stayed in Tennessee and I was happy to pay them. I am glad my kids grew up here and I am glad that three of my grandchildren are getting an excellent public education here. I wish Mr. Angelillo and his family the best of luck in Tennessee. However, I’ll be staying here, happily paying my taxes, because I get my money’s worth, and watching my grandchildren and my friends’ and neighbors’ children and grandchildren grow and thrive in this wonderful community.