Many fortunes
I am thankful for my family and friends who have always been there for me. I am thankful for my mother, who worked hard to help guide me and support me. I am grateful for having the will to return to college again for the first time in a few years.
I am grateful for this wonderful country and the advantages and opportunities here. I am grateful to have a home with a roof over my head and food on the table.
I am grateful for the feeling of security in my own country because of the police, the military and the FBI.
I am thankful for a job I enjoy that helps me learn more about animals. I am thankful for the nice and friendly people where I live.
I am grateful that scholarships exist. I am grateful for almost making it to my degree.
Kristin DeMoss
Lenexa
In the know
I am so grateful for the reporters at The Kansas City Star, KCUR, KCPT, “PBS NewsHour” and Rachel Maddow. I appreciate the spotlight that you all shine on the facts and let me draw my own opinions.
Our democracy cannot exist without a free and independent press. Thanks for the hard work you do in bringing me the news.
I know some may wonder why I include Maddow. What I have witnessed over the last years is her increasing ability to provide context and history and then just lay out the facts. Then I can understand why a story is important and listen to a variety of experts shining a light on the world.
This is similar to the fine work of these other outlets. You bring me stories I wouldn’t have found on my own, perspectives that help me understand a different way of looking at the world.
Thanks for all that you do. You help to keep us informed.
Marnie Hammer
Kansas City
Unequal coverage
No, this is not a Trump tweet, but disapproval of the media’s priorities in the reporting on the sudden deaths of Della Reese and Charles Manson last week.
The Nov. 20 “NBC Nightly News” did a several-minute feature on the life and times of Manson, the acknowledged leader of a brutal group of murderers. Then, toward the end of the broadcast, it did a by-the-way on the death of Reese, who was a national star for more than 40 years.
On Nov. 21, The Kansas City Star published articles on both deaths, with Manson getting two-thirds of the page with detailed descriptions of his gruesome history. (“Cult killings in 1969 ended era of love,” 6A)
The bottom third of the page reported on Reese as a television star who passed away in her sleep. (“Singer found greatest fame in TV’s ‘Touched by an Angel’”)
Have we become such an insulated society that news of a mass murderer’s death is of greater interest than that of a person who was such a positive influence upon a majority of the population?
Even the fact that Reese was such a major star before her TV programs was mostly overlooked.
Paul Zolotor
Raytown
Why they protest
According to the Tuskegee Institute, 3,446 black Americans were lynched between 1882 and 1968, 69 in Missouri.
In 1921, hundreds of whites rampaged through the black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, killing perhaps as many as 300.
In 1963, Alabama sheriff Bull Connor attacked peacefully demonstrating black children with high-pressure fire hoses and vicious dogs.
Southern whites still romanticize the antebellum South, where “old times there are not forgotten.” Slavery, racism and inequality are inconvenient truths that are best forgotten — “Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixieland.” That explains why most Americans don’t give a damn that young black males are being gunned down by white cops. They especially don’t want to hear about it from a bunch of ungrateful, overpaid black athletes.
The attitude is: If black players in the NFL don’t appreciate living in the greatest nation on Earth, they should pack their bags and go play football in Africa.
So Marcus Peters, Michael Bennett and all the rest of you take-a-knee protesters, just forget about liberty and justice for all. Put your hands over your hearts, stand at attention and we’ll all get along just fine.
Jeffrey Bushman
Kansas City
Need a break
I am thankful The Star chose to print heartfelt messages from readers who very much amplified the blessings in their lives on Thanksgiving Day. (20A) It was clear they were filled with love and gratitude.
Above the letters and to the right was another vitriolic cartoon by Lee Judge. Does he not take a day off from his political badgering? It might have been funny if it wasn’t part of a pattern. Doesn’t he have something to be thankful for?
Lou Bresette
Kansas City
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