Letters: Readers discuss Cleaver on MLK, ‘human scum’ Republicans and marijuana use
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I wish to applaud Kansas City voters on the vote to restore The Paseo’s historic street name.
I suggest naming a bridge after Martin Luther King Jr. A bridge is a span that unites two areas. I believe this was part of his dream to span the times and unite all races.
- Larry Smith, Higginsville, Missouri
Paseo message
I was saddened to read that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver went on MSNBC and criticized voters in Kansas City for overwhelmingly voting to restore the name of The Paseo, objecting to our having a say in how we should honor Martin Luther King Jr. (Nov. 12, 3A, “Cleaver laments city’s vote to remove MLK’s name from boulevard”)
In her Nov. 3 column, “Why I’m only reluctantly voting no to keep it MLK,” (17A) Melinda Henneberger discussed what she’d heard from others: “If we changed the name back to The Paseo, the world beyond Kansas City would inevitably see that as motivated by racism.” She went on to ask, “Who cares what The New York Times says?”
I don’t know the motive for the protest at the Paseo Baptist Church before the election. I do know that Cleaver’s comment on national TV that “you don’t do this in a church” was ill-advised.
Church was exactly where King frequently delivered his civil rights message. He advocated that all Americans should have voting rights, and Kansas Citians were asking for just that in honoring King in our city.
Voting to reinstate the name The Paseo is not intended in any way to be a racist rebuke of King. It is a rebuke of how the City Council ramrodded the name change down our throats.
- Dana Perry, Kansas City
Scummy me?
I’d like to assure the president that contrary to his concerns, even though I am a Republican and a Never-Trumper, I am not on a respirator, and I certainly resent his characterization of anybody who might oppose his interpretation of the U.S. presidency as “human scum,” as he recently labeled insufficiently supplicant Republicans on Twitter.
The very fact that the president of the United States would refer to any citizen in that manner is not only insulting but degrading to his office.
I can only hope there are enough reasonable Republicans left to begin to move our wonderful country in a disciplined direction and thus forward to a restoration of our real leadership and respect in the world.
- Ted Horning, Shawnee
Benefit oversold
I am deeply troubled by the entrenched belief that marijuana is a benign substance because it is a natural one. As a nurse practitioner who works in pediatrics, I am concerned that marijuana’s health threats to our state’s most vulnerable citizens are being overlooked.
Natural substances have natural side effects. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, emerging evidence points to problems with attention, memory, problem-solving skills and behavior in children exposed to marijuana in utero.
Amid the growing mental health crisis among our nation’s preteens and adolescents, the risk of anxiety, panic attacks and psychosis among marijuana users is not being addressed. Rather, many believe that marijuana, due to its somnolent effects, is an appropriate treatment for anxiety.
The national trend toward legalization of recreational use is knocking on our door. While our state lawmakers work to implement medical marijuana, I encourage them — and all Missourians — to learn more about these and other health threats.
We have evidence that marijuana is good medicine for a very limited number of problems. Any good medicine used at the wrong time, or for the wrong reason, ceases to be good medicine.
- Julia Horowitz, Gladstone
Torch dropped
Even though I’m an unapologetic liberal, I’ve always admired and respected conservative columnist Kathleen Parker (and also David Brooks). However, Parker’s Monday column, “You’ll gain a new appreciation of Clarence Thomas from this film,” really struck a nerve. (7A)
As a black man about the same age as Justice Clarence Thomas, I was anxious and excited that President George H.W. Bush would replace the highly revered civil rights icon Justice Thurgood Marshall with another African American on the Supreme Court. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Thomas would turn out to be the total antithesis of Marshall.
I can understand Parker’s admiration for Thomas as a fellow conservative. What bothers me is his clear and obvious disdain for causes near and dear to the hearts of most minorities, while he himself is a member of one of the most prominent.
- Eddie L. Clay, Grandview
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 5:00 AM.