Yahoo Finance Offensive Charlotte street names must go. All must recognize the hurt they cause.
Street names
Regarding “9 city streets should be renamed, panel reports” (Dec. 3) and related Forum letters:
White privilege may prevent some people from appreciating the hurt and discomfort felt by every Black person forced to live around and use streets with names tied to the Confederacy or white supremacy.
Imagine being Jewish and living on Adolf Hitler Street. It doesn’t happen because Germany recognized that commemorating and honoring deplorable historical characters is quite different from educating future generations about them in more appropriate settings, like museums and history classes.
These street names need to go.
Michael Knaebel, Charlotte
Mask enforcement
Having inexperienced employees sit by the door of a business to enforce the N.C. mask mandate is like dropping a sacrificial lamb into a lion’s den.
To more safely enforce the mandate, hiring trained security guards or bouncers who are out of jobs right now is a more effective approach. Businesses could also have an employee scouting the store for unmasked customers and when they spot one, call management or security and upon arrival hand unmasked customers a mask.
Hoping defiant customers will abide by the mandate is like asking a toddler to do something they don’t want to do. But in this case the toddler may be packing more than a diaper load.
Kris Solow, Charlotte
CMPD and masks
Regarding “NC strengthens mask mandate order. But CMPD will still cite people only as last resort,” (Nov. 23):
The director of the CDC warns that this winter could be “the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.” But the dire outcome could be improved if people would just wear masks.
Why then did the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announce that it will issue citations for failing to wear a mask only as a last resort?
Our public officials are supposed to protect us, so why don’t they step up and do so before thousands more North Carolinians die.
Cathy Roche, Charlotte
About that 1%
Regarding Jay Ambrose “Put on the cuffs, hide yourself - and stay hidden,” (Dec. 1 Opinion):
It really doesn’t matter if only 1% of those who contract COVID-19 die if your loved one is in that 1%. Let’s all just wear masks, practice social distancing, stay home as much as possible, and protect ourselves and others.
Rosalie Spaniel, Charlotte
Trump vaccines
Regarding ”Give Trump credit,” (Dec. 4 Forum):
Yes, by all means, give credit to the Trump administration for funding research leading to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.
But this action is not mutually exclusive from providing national leadership to mitigate the ravages of the virus right now — close to 3,000 deaths a day. That leadership is virtually nonexistent as the president golfs during the day and whines on Twitter half the night about his election loss.
For what it’s worth, Pfizer did not accept federal funding from Operation Warp Speed to help develop or manufacture its vaccine. How did pharmaceutical companies accomplish this remarkable feat? Because Chinese scientists quickly produced the genome of the virus and disseminated it for free last January to scientists throughout the world.
Let’s give credit everywhere it is due for the rapid delivery of these vaccines.
Alan Singerman, Mooresville
Biden so far
I find it interesting that President-elect Joe Biden is touting the diversity of his cabinet, yet if it were truly diverse 47% of the members would represent the 74 million people who voted for his opponent and supported the current administration’s policies.
At this point, all signs point to Biden reversing many of our current policies and filling his cabinet with career government employees.
This makes it extremely important to keep Republican control of the Senate, and hopefully after two years of a Biden administration people will regret their vote and put the Republicans in charge of the House of Representatives as well.
Phil Barton, Hickory
Bread and circuses
In 2016 a significant percentage of the electorate made a Faustian bargain with Trump. He said:
Ignore my disregard for climate change, environmental and consumer protection regulations and I will give you a good economy. Ignore my disregard for the soaring national debt & I will give you a tax break, of sorts. Ignore my brutal methods and I will slow the flow of immigrants along our southern border. Ignore my racism and authoritarian tendencies and I will give you an ordered, white Christian country where “the trains run on time.”
In Roman times the politicians kept a restive population happy by offering “bread and circuses.” Since we have not learned from history we have had the same. The bread — the economy. Finally, the circus is leaving town. Let’s not invite it back in 2024.
Art Wilson, Charlotte
