Letters: Readers discuss race, protests out of control, KC election mess and truthful past
The race is human
In the 1960s, I had a teacher I will admire until the day I die. One day during class we were required to complete a document identifying our race. When I selected “Other,” she told me I had to choose “Negro.” I debated with her and refused to yield, telling her I was a member of the human race.
After I grew older, we became friends. She continued to educate me well into adulthood. She died a few years ago, but I will never forget her lessons. During the 25 years I served as a police officer and the 12 years I taught high school and coached, I often turned to her for counsel about human behavior. However, after the fifth grade, we never again talked about race.
During my lifetime, I have been called Colored, Negro, Black and African American. Along the way, all of these labels were assigned to me. I did not choose them.
I believe that until our discussions can stay focused on human rights, without an emphasis on race or color, we’re destined to be like hamsters on a wire wheel. We’ll be going nowhere fast.
- Jeffery R. Dysart, Overland Park
Don’t give in
The police of my childhood would have never allowed a mob of vandals to destroy public property. They would have given an order to disperse and then moved in decisively, using the age-old concept of minimum necessary force.
The statues that have been defaced belong to everyone, yet a minority of malcontents is allowed to obliterate our history with impunity.
It is time to put a stop to this madness. If our political leaders are too craven to defend the images of our bygone past, then it is time to dispense with them and the rabble whose feet they kiss.
- Gregory H. Bontrager, Hutchinson, Kansas
Dixie freebie
I am sure the Dixie store in Branson that you featured recently enjoyed all the free advertising. (June 21, 1A, “Branson store clings to its Dixie name despite protest”) What were you thinking?
- Michele McIntosh, Independence
Election mess
I have been an election judge in Jackson County for years, but I declined to work the June 2 election and have requested the Kansas City Election Board remove me for future elections. I did not vote June 2, the first time in 20 years I have missed an election. This makes me a “disenfranchised voter.”
Holding an in-person election during a pandemic is risky and guaranteed to deter voting. The turnout for the June election was 10%. The number of polling locations has been reduced, ensuring long lines, and the number of election workers who have dropped out has created a crisis.
The election board is struggling to accommodate a situation mandated by the Missouri legislature. Although Gov. Mike Parson signed a bill allowing mail-in voting for the August and November elections, ballots must be notarized, and for voters uncomfortable going out in public, this is an unnecessary burden.
Vote by mail has been successful for years in several states, and many others have adopted it because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only registered voters receive ballots, signatures are verified, incidents of voter fraud are minuscule, and voting by mail does not favor either political party.
- Kathy Siress, Kansas City
Deeply intertwined
Renaming the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain is being touted as Kansas City’s first step toward ending racial inequality. This proposal is a cosmetic cop-out allowing city officials to claim “progress” while retaining a prized landmark built by money whose provenance they would prefer to ignore
Kansas City’s history is intertwined with J.C. Nichols’. Like it or not, they cannot be separated. Simply changing a plaque will not affect that.
If we wish to keep the iconic landmark, which is a popular symbol, we could find a way to add context to it, highlighting both Nichols’ contributions to Kansas City and the consequences of his development tactics. Or if we truly wish to disavow the legacy of J.C. Nichols, then we must do so as completely as possible. The fountain must go the way of Confederate monuments, being dismantled and replaced.
To simply rename the fountain is no solution. It is hypocritical to benefit from a person’s contributions while saying we want nothing to do with him. Rather than confronting our history of racial division, it simply brushes it under the rug while hoping no one will look.
- Matthew Peak, Mission
Give us a break
Why can’t The Star or its editorial staff get the courage to print a positive article once in a while for us conservatives who read The Star and have for more than 40 years? It is almost like selective censorship of the press.
- Richard Wiens, Leawood