Letters: Readers discuss home health care, Confederate monuments and the KKK

Home health care

I hope someone will forward The Kansas City Star’s Sunday front-page story about Kevin Pickett and his family to Gov. Eric Greitens. (“‘Bad for the disabled, bad for taxpayers;’ In-home care cuts hit Missouri families”)

Greitens should have some reading material as he sits down for dinner with his healthy family.

Judy Rector

Blue Springs

Reckoning

The paradox relating to monuments honoring members of the Confederacy cannot be easily addressed. However, the reality is that the people they recognize are integral parts of our history who were chosen for recognition because of their status in a struggle that is forever a part of America’s past and present.

We like to honor people who we believe deserve recognition, and there will always be individuals who disagree with those being honored. However, if we are going to remove the Confederate monuments from our history, then what comes next? Will we re-examine Monticello as a national treasure because of Thomas Jefferson’s actions or inaction relating to slavery, or will we close the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum because of his actions and disgrace resulting from Watergate?

I abhor white nationalism and white supremacy. However, the reality is that some people will forever continue having opinions and attitudes that support such beliefs, while others will forever keep working to change them. Such is the paradox of life in the United States.

Jeffery R. Dysart

Overland Park

No more doubt

If we had any doubt about what the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Va., stands for, the neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists who arrived fully armed to protest its removal have shown us. It stands for the belief in white supremacy that fueled the Civil War that Lee fought for and that these demonstrators profess.

We must no longer honor the icons of the Confederacy. They were not American patriots, but treasonous men who fought to maintain and expand slavery.

There was a time when I would have left the statues as markers of history. No more. It is past time to remove them.

Christine Taft

Prairie Village

Jazz fest problems

I find much to question in your editorial about the failure of this year’s jazz festival. (Aug. 13, 16A, “To thrive, jazz district must battle fear of crime — and racism”)

First, please do not use data and assumptions from 1979, before the jazz district was rebuilt, to support lack of attendance. I am a 72-year-old white guy from the suburbs who attended and will go anywhere to hear good live music. Those who live in fear will never attend, no matter where it is located.

I think poor planning and a little bad luck were major factors. To begin with, to expect crowds large enough to support five stages for three days was not realistic. The festival lineup was front-loaded Friday night, with big-name headliners Chick Corea, John Scofield, Lalah Hathaway and Brandy performing. Also on Friday, local favorite and Grammy nominee Karrin Allyson with Houston Person were scheduled way too early — 5:15 p.m. at the Gem Theater.

The organizers should be embarrassed by that blunder. The Saturday lineup was not close in name recognition, and there was heavy rain that afternoon, all of which held down attendance.

Include poor parking and lack of shuttle service, and you have a disaster.

Bill John

Leawood

Not your flag

To the American Nazi Party and the KKK: Please stop using the Confederate Battle Flag as your symbol of white supremacy and racial hatred. The flag does not represent your views.

The real sons and daughters of Confederate soldiers are the only rightful heirs of that flag, and we do not condone your beliefs and actions.

During the Civil War, thousands of black and Jewish Confederate soldiers fought bravely against the Union. We, the members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and United Daughters of the Confederacy, warmly welcome their families into our organization.

Robert E. Lee, whose statue you claimed to protect in Charlottesville, Va. was instrumental in ensuring that our country transitioned peacefully back to one nation. If he were alive today, he would have you arrested and summarily executed by firing squad.

Think about that the next time you wave our flag in an attempt to divide our country.

The Confederate Battle Flag belongs to us — not you. Stop using it.

James C. Edwards

Kansas City

This story was originally published August 16, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss home health care, Confederate monuments and the KKK."