Letters: KC readers discuss Patty Prewitt, loving Donald Trump and interfaith goodwill
Mercy for Prewitt
Bo Lozoff, author of “We’re All Doing Time,” wrote: “In the midst of global crises such as pollution, wars and famine, kindness may be too easily dismissed as a ‘soft’ issue, or a luxury to be addressed after the urgent problems are solved. But kindness is the greatest need in all those areas — kindness toward the environment, toward other nations, toward the needs of people who are suffering. Until we reflect basic kindness in everything we do, our political gestures will be fleeting and fragile.”
The Bible, similarly, states in Matthew 25:40: “Whatever you have done to the least of my brethren, you have done also to me.” Mother Teresa embraced this message wholly, jiggling the fingers of children as she ministered the words, “You did it to me.”
Gov. Mike Parson, please grant clemency to Patty Prewitt. The profound impact of the efforts of her life are innumerable and unquantifiable. We are all Patty. We are all her sons and daughters. “We are all doing time.” “You did it to me” — jiggling our fingers for all the world to see this holiday season.
Please call upon Gov. Parson to grant Patty mercy and clemency: (573) 751-3222 or governor.mo.gov/contact-us
- Laura Phillips, Marionville, Missouri
I don’t see it
I read many articles and see many videos proclaiming that President Donald Trump is a liar, racist and all the other current demeaning buzzwords. The fact is, if you want the American public to believe you, you must cite the evidence. Name-calling alone will not change the views of millions of people who see him as a real, relatable person, not just a Washington paper image stamped from the same mold as all the other politicians.
The people really liked President Ronald Reagan because they could relate to him. People love Trump. It’s up to you to show them enough evidence to change their minds.
- Luana Bingaman, Independence
Useful information
Thank you for printing the letter from Summer Rahim Ahmad, an Ahmadiyya Muslim, on Christmas Day. (10A) While hers are different from my beliefs, she provided a non-confrontational explanation that would open a conversation to better understand both Muslim and Christian faiths.
- Pat Williams, Kansas City
Work to do
I grew up in the 1940s and ’50s in Brookside, the heart of J. C. Nichols’ whites-only neighborhoods. I want to thank Star Editor Mike Fannin, the news staff and the editorial board for writing about the many ways the The Star’s past racist policies helped ignore, restrict and oppress so many Kansas City residents. (Dec. 20, 1A, “The truth in black and white”)
This project carefully showed us how the paper’s coverage slanted the headlines to disparage or belittle people of color, noted the grave absences of coverage of the achievements of Black Kansas Citians, and discussed The Star’s silence about businesses’ and government’s illegal restraints against Black citizens.
I am grateful and inspired by the courage and strength shown in these reviews of The Star’s past and by Mr. Fannin’s compassionate apology for this long racist history, which the current Star staff plans to reverse. Well done.
- Pat Michaels Kehde, Lawrence
Another step?
Interesting: According to The Star, J.C. Nichols and Star founder William Rockhill Nelson were friends, and Nelson helped plan the housing segregation policies instituted by Nichols. (Dec. 20, 22A, “J.C. Nichols’ whites-only neighborhoods, boosted by Star’s founder, leave mark”) Yet at the bottom of The Star’s editorial page is a picture of Nelson with the quote, “A paper for the people.” Maybe it is time for The Star to take another step forward and remove the picture and quote of William Rockhill Nelson.
- Don Grove, Blue Springs
This story was originally published December 29, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters: KC readers discuss Patty Prewitt, loving Donald Trump and interfaith goodwill."