Mahomes’ father, Trump’s military ‘losers,’ Kellie Warren

“Unfortunately, the cancer of racism in our country is a virulent strain, surviving, even still thriving.”

Father figures

When the Chiefs won the Super Bowl in 1970, I was in Vietnam listening on the radio via American Forces Vietnam Network. The team’s 2020 victory was a thing of beauty as well.

Patrick Mahomes deserves the accolades and the money he is getting, but after Sam Mellinger’s superb column about what Mahomes’ father and LaTroy Hawkins meant to the Chiefs quarterback’s development, one may rightly view the importance of fathers and godfathers to a young man’s development — all young men’s development — as a theme for which there is no earthly substitute. (Sept. 6, 2E, “Life lessons learned from father, godfather prepared Mahomes for stardom”)

- Ron Smith, Larned, Kansas

Not a loser

In 1966, I was a naive gay teenager when I was drafted into the Army. I was sent to Vietnam, served honorably and received the Army Commendation Medal. Since retiring, I have logged more than 5,000 hours volunteering. I am proud of my service to our country.

I am not a loser or sucker, (Sept. 6, 7A, “Dueling visions of reality define start of presidential campaign”) but President Donald Trump doesn’t understand that. He judges a person only by how much money he or she has and believes you should always put yourself first.

- James Peters, Kansas City

Reasonable alarm

I’m a member, volunteer and donor for the ACLU of Kansas. I appreciate The Star’s Labor Day editorial, “Did ACLU of Kansas bust union, retaliate?” (7A) and I too am worried that the ACLU’s voter-protection program for Kansans is being sacrificed to Executive Director Nadine Johnson’s unnecessary and vindictive anti-union activities. The Star unfairly called the United Media Guild “hysteric” for its alarm.

Union busting is a huge industry that kills off countless sincere and needed attempts by workers to have voices in their workplaces. A 2007 study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that about 1 in 7 union organizers and activists was illegally fired for organizing each year.

The ACLU of Kansas placed the union’s chief steward on a paid leave to perform an investigation within a week of being informed of her name and before negotiations for the first contract were to begin. It forbade her to contact any of the hundreds of volunteers whom she was priming to help protect our voting rights this fall, and no one has taken over for her.

Not only is this unfortunate, but it also is a violation of basic principles of the ACLU, which is to protect due process. So no, editorial board, the union’s alarm is definitely not hysteric. It’s totally appropriate.

- Judy Ancel, Kansas City, Kansas

No way out

Regarding the president’s alleged disparaging remarks regarding military personnel: My father served in World War I. Three of my cousins and two of my husband’s uncles served in World War II. My husband served in the Korean War.

Too bad none of them had bone spurs.

- Kathleen Wilkes, Prairie Village

Degree of risk

I bet nobody would refuse to wear a protective mask in public if the coronavirus showed itself as small pox — or worse.

- Toni A. Collins, Raytown

Yes, facts exist

Here’s a quick pop quiz: How did COVID-19 get its name? Was it because:

A) The virus started inside a video game.

B) The virus emerged in 2019.

C) The virus came sequentially after COVID-1 through 18.

Knowledgeable people know the correct answer is B. First reported in December 2019, the virus was named by the World Health Organization after the year.

Yet some officials, from Washington, D.C., to Overland Park, continue to downplay the seriousness of COVID-19 by relegating it to No. 19 in a list of “ordinary” viruses — as in the fallacious reference to the nonexistent COVID-1 through 18.

Locally, this false categorization wormed its way into the Republican primary for Kansas Senate District 11. When state Rep. Kellie Warren was asked in a recorded session with The Kansas City Star Editorial Board whether she agreed wearing masks lessens COVID-19’s spread, Warren replied, “I’d have to disagree on that, and I think this is COVID-19 because there’s been COVID-1 through 18 as well.” (July 21, KansasCity.com, “The Star Editorial Board interview with GOP Kansas Senate District 11 candidates”)

How frightening that officials as dangerously uninformed as Warren make life-and-death decisions affecting the health and safety of all Kansans during this pandemic. That’s why I’m voting for her Senate opponent, Joy Koesten. Joy believes in facts.

- Judie Becker, Leawood