Trump is done: Letters to the editor, July 26, 2020

Trump is toast; Biden is future

The presidency of Donald John Trump has been a marked three and one half years of dismal and abject failure. He won the Oval Office on a campaign of grievance and bigotry — Mexicans are no more than drug dealers and rapists. Build a southern wall by any means. Then came scandal after scandal — a list too lengthy to enumerate here.

Yes, the economy was very strong in February when the COVID-19 hit our shores, but the president’s anemic response is well noted. Donnie yelled “hoax” at any available microphone multiple times.

Now with Trump pal Vladimir Putin paying for the scalps of U.S. and allied troops in the Afghanistan war, a bounty fee. As the outrage over the Trump love of Russia and Soviet KGB guy Putin grows, the fate of the November election is sealed. The economy mired in deep recession, 500,000 dead Americans perished due to Trump inaction. Joe Biden-Kamala Harris in a landslide.

A very new national healing sets in on all fronts: Health, race and economy.

Glad for Advance Peace approval

Thank you, Fresno City Council and our mayor, for agreeing to fund the evidence-based violence interruption program, Advance Peace, for the next three years in Fresno. I’m a volunteer with Moms Demand Action, and one of millions of people committed to ending all gun violence. In order to accomplish this, we must recognize the disproportionate impact gun violence has on communities of color, particularly the Black community, and support solutions that address it.

Nationally, as well as in California, Blacks are twice as likely to die from gun violence as whites. Gun violence is the leading cause of death of Black children. More than 50% of gun deaths in America happen in urban settings. Advance Peace has been tremendously successful in reducing gun-related deaths in other cities in California, including Richmond, showing a 55% reduction in gun deaths following the implementation of this program.

It’s not only saving lives, it’s also cost effective since each gun death costs over $1 million, which is more than three times the total cost to Fresno for funding Advance Peace over the next three years. Moms Demand Action has partnered with Advance Peace in many cities, and looks forward to supporting them in Fresno.

Care about history, stop the madness

Regarding the article in the July 3 issue about removing the Gandhi statue at Fresno State, thank you President Castro for not giving in to people wanting to destroy our history.

Good or bad, it’s the people’s history. I’m tired of the current generation trying to erase what has made our country what it is! When will this stop? Akhnoor Sindh should put her time into educating her peers and be an example to the rest of the country.

I am of Mexican heritage, born and raised in this country. This is my history ... this is your history. Don’t just care about what’s in your best interest — care about what’s in the best interest of our world. What’s next? Removing crosses because they offend atheists? Stop the madness!

COVID impact not evenly felt

Professor Creviston would do well to compare the contemporary coronavirus response to wars of more recent memory than WWII, because the class and socioeconomic distinctions between those who propagandize wars and those who fight them have never been more obvious.

It is perfectly clear that the brunt of the economic sacrifice due to coronavirus has not been evenly borne across the population, but is concentrated among the voiceless, or those conveniently deemed nonessential.

We live in a strange political moment, but it is important that we interpret it in a socioeconomic context, because to focus on toxic partisanship and public hysteria is to focus on its symptoms, losing sight of its causes. We could be more sympathetic to those in tough situations, with very uncertain futures. We need to better direct our powers of persuasion to the disenfranchised, who may not feel compelled to uphold their end of a violated social contract.

This story was originally published July 26, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Trump is done: Letters to the editor, July 26, 2020."