Letters: KC readers discuss MO, KS joining Texas election suit, Brian Platt and Chiefs
Clear to see
A four-panel composite photo on the front page of Tuesday’s Star depicts firefighters being tested for promotions on video. (“Bias keeps Black firefighters from reaching top ranks”) Any social scientist knows video evaluations are fraught with racial and gender bias even when evaluators genuinely believe they have no prejudices.
Women and minority musicians for years complained that major symphonies gave white males preference in hiring trials. In a 1997 study, orchestra judges were placed behind screens hiding the gender of auditionees. Suddenly, women began advancing through the trials at an appropriate rate.
Other studies have shown similar results in relation to skin color. Time and again, identical job applications with only the race identification changed will net a majority of white applicants getting job offers over the others.
When I feel the need to tell you I am not prejudiced, that is a good clue I probably am. Kansas City Fire Department administrators: Clean up your evaluation tools.
- Clark Achelpohl, Kansas City
Dangerous game
Only the most insecure, overly ambitious politicians would join President Donald Trump’s charade and the dangerous political theater of Texas’ lawsuit to invalidate the presidential election, which the Supreme Court thankfully denied Friday. (Dec. 11, KansasCity.com, “Supreme Court rejects Republican attack on Biden victory”) No amount of polish will burnish these bad actors or change the fact that they committed to ending constitutional order.
When Pennsylvania’s attorney general said the lawsuit is “a seditious abuse of the judicial process” that “must never be replicated,” he meant insurrectionist and subversive.
Like other states recklessly conjoined to Texas’ lawsuit, Kansas is an insolvent dependency relying on the federal government’s generosity to bail us out yearly. Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt clearly aspires to be governor, but he shouldn’t be so eager to dissolve the unity that binds Kansas to the nation.
In claiming that we 3 million Kansans, with citizens of 16 other backwater states, have some prevailing right to dictate the winner, he and his rebellious cohorts are removing any last incentives for the majority of states to stick with a system already inordinately favoring our small, largely rural minority.
However incoherent their legal strategy, the threat is real. Like novice chess players who’ve read the rules yet don’t understand enough strategy to play the gambit, our schoolboy sycophants are moving pawns without recognizing they’re tossing the game.
- Leslie D. Mark, Mission Hills
Constitutional duty
An open letter to Roger Marshall, the current U.S. Congressman and newly elected U.S. senator from Kansas:
A portion of the oath that new senators will take in January states, “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”
How can you take this oath after your support of the failed lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general to negate votes in four states so that President Donald Trump can overturn the election he lost by both the popular vote and the Electoral College? Your actions demonstrate that you are willing to ignore the U.S. Constitution and deny U.S. citizens their properly cast votes because the result came out against an impeached president.
Trump has behaved like a spoiled 10-year-old who lost the game but now wants a do-over. His own inept leadership, lack of empathy and lies to the American public were the causes of his downfall. Trump lied about the virus and Americans died.
Get over it. President-elect Joe Biden won.
- Jim Karlin, Overland Park
Big potential
I just watched an interview with Kansas City’s new city manager, Brian Platt. Even though he is very young and has limited professional experience, I was very impressed with his energy and answers to the questions posed.
Listening to him brought to mind another rather young, inexperienced person who was new to Kansas City a couple years ago. A man who had a similar youthful and energetic vocal cadence and pitch that, at first, sounded a little different. But he’s a person who has proved to be a great addition to the city and is now respected by many people, both young and old. That person is Patrick Mahomes.
I believe Platt will follow in Mahomes’ footsteps and raise Kansas City to a level exceeding our expectations.
Go Chiefs. Go Kansas City.
- Doug Kinney, Kansas City
Inspiring work
I suspect that sports columns rarely inspire tears of overwhelming gratitude among their readership, but that was my response to Wednesday’s commentary by Vahe Gregorian, “The great power of great responsibility; Sports Illustrated lauds Chiefs’ Mahomes, Duvernay-Tardif.” (1B)
In a time when we need heroes to inspire our better selves, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Patrick Mahomes embody generosity, integrity and a commitment to the common good. One has chosen to do the work of physical healing, serving humanity in the midst of the pandemic. One has chosen to use his voice, his talent and his star power to lead the way to do the much-needed work of social and racial justice.
Gregorian quoted Doug Williams, the first Black quarterback to win the Super Bowl, writing in an essay about Mahomes: “It’s about social justice to him. It’s about what’s right. It’s about the way things should be. … As the best player in the NFL, Mahomes has the loudest voice. He forced people to listen.”
Laurent and Patrick: We see you, we hear you, and we are deeply grateful. May we in turn match your courage and do our part to be instruments of justice and compassion in a city, a country, a world so greatly in need.
- Peggy Ekerdt, Kansas City
A Chiefs great
Thank you for your story about Curtis McClinton. (Dec. 9, 3B, “McClinton brought range of skills to Texans/Chiefs”) He is one of the finest, most gracious and talented people I have ever met.
I had the opportunity to work with him on a number of projects in Kansas City. The 18th and Vine Jazz District would probably not look like it does without the work of Curtis.
God bless you, Curtis. You will always be one of my heroes.
- Chester Owens, Kansas City
This story was originally published December 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters: KC readers discuss MO, KS joining Texas election suit, Brian Platt and Chiefs."