Letters: Readers discuss KCK police task force, canceling fireworks and Trump family
Voices left out
When I saw that Kansas City, Kansas, had set up a task force to address police-community issues, I was initially pleased — until I saw there was only one woman and seven men. (June 9, 4A, “KCK task force to improve resident, police relations”) Then I read that when asked why there were no young black men in the group, the mayor said the city wasn’t trying to exclude anyone.
He doesn’t get it. It’s about making sure all stakeholders are included. There was no mention of public meetings. I’m afraid it looks a lot like the task force will just be window dressing.
- Patricia A. McDonald, Kansas City, Kansas
Need to know
Monday’s front-page story, “Kansas COVID-19 outbreaks identified in confidential list,” detailing how The Star found out locations of coronavirus outbreaks in Kansas further confirms the incredulity we feel each day.
Why wouldn’t health authorities want information about outbreak locations to see the widest circulation possible? They cannot reach everyone by contact tracing in most instances, if ever. Wouldn’t it be prudent to reach out to the public by any means to alert people that if they were in a certain store at a certain time, they might have been exposed?
I do not think they are doing their job as agents of public health by withholding such vital information.
- Marilyn York, Olathe
Bye-bye, booms
I am grateful to read in Tuesday’s Star that cities in the area have canceled Fourth of July fireworks because of the coronavirus pandemic. (2A, “Area cities cancel July 4 fireworks amid coronavirus”)
Maybe these totally unnecessary, costly, animal-frightening and environment-polluting events can be canceled for good. The fact that something is a tradition does not mean it makes sense to uphold it.
- Klaus Karbaumer, Platte City
Such bravery
President Donald Trump told America if he were the security guard at the Parkland, Florida, high school that was the scene of a February 2018 shooting, “I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon.”
During the recent protests in Washington, D.C., we found him hunkered down in the White House bunker, inspecting it, as he claimed. A few days later, he had barriers erected so he wouldn’t have to confront, face to face, a peaceful protester carrying a non-lethal cardboard sign.
Very heroic, this law and order president.
- Robert Franklin, Kansas City
March, but vote
Voting is neither dramatic nor dangerous, but it is the only sure way to bring about the long-term changes demonstrators want to see happen. This is especially important now that we have learned how much power elected representatives have over our lives, liberties and livelihoods.
- Kenneth Lee, Raytown
A different view
I’m an older white guy. The other day, I heard my neighbor talking outside on the phone. She’s a young black woman. I heard her describe a nice apartment where she used to live and how much she liked it. She said, “I felt like a white person, a rich one.”
That really struck me. Here’s someone living 10 feet from me, someone who, to me, is living in similar circumstances as me, but she doesn’t see herself as part of the same culture I live in. To her, nice things are reserved for white people.
Somehow, our society needs to deal with that and fix it. Who knows what decisions she’s made in her life because she sees a ceiling that she can’t break through anyway?
- Chris Guyer, Independence
A new Iraq?
It appears the United States is on the way to becoming the next Iraq as it was under Saddam Hussein. The similarities are, unfortunately, many.
As in Iraq, our country is being ruled by a narcissistic, immoral, corrupt individual who surrounds himself with family and cronies and places them in positions of power. His support comes from members of a minority religious sect who are quite content to see abuses leveled onto the majority, as long as the tyrant panders to their wants. He professes to their religion but follows none of its tenets.
His political allies, although they privately might question his intent, say nothing and acquiesce to his demands to curry his favor and to avoid his wrath, and to enjoy the perks that come with their fealty to him.
The tyrant’s grip on power is tenuous, and he is willing to do anything to maintain it, even directing the military to attack his own citizens. As the pushback from the majority grows, so do his excesses.
Ultimately, the country might move toward widespread civil unrest. Welcome to Ameriraq.
- Glenn Lyons, Shawnee