Masks and COVID: Letters to the editor, Sept. 27, 2020

Opposing a mask is a death wish

In The Fresno Bee on Aug. 18, Fred Vanderhoof, the chairman of Fresno County’s Republican Party, described the number of deaths from COVID-19 in this country as “infinitesimal.” Soon after that, in a national poll by CBS News, 57 percent of Republicans said that the number of deaths that virus had caused was “acceptable.” Now over 200,000 people have died from COVID-19 in this country, and the number is growing every day.

For several months, some people have said that we face a choice between fighting the virus and reviving the economy. That always has been a false dilemma.

Earlier this year most of the developed democracies put a priority on addressing the threat posed by the virus. The steps that they took brought the rate of infection much lower, making it possible to revive their economies and schools.

Yes, it would be good to open restaurants and get children into the classrooms. And some other countries have already done that.

In our country, who is responsible for not opening up? Those who have denied the necessity of wearing masks are responsible for that. Let’s be honest. Their slogan is, “Let them die.”

Challenge, blessing of being Black

My, how his tone and attitude changed. Less aggressive and argumentative, immediately! A different officer actually stepped in and talked to me one on one with a different tone and approach. Actually took a report (this time) and stayed until things were clear.

So see, my uniforms/titles grant me a different kind of respect while in them or when it’s made known who I am, but without them as a shield, I’m just another Black person who doesn’t deserve the same “respect” I had in uniform or before it’s made known what I do career-wise.

I can come home and take off the uniform because it was my choice to become a paramedic and enlist in the Air Force National Guard, but I can’t go home and take off my skin color because it wasn’t my choice to be born in the skin tone that’s most hated and least respected.

But I wouldn’t change it for the world! My skin tone has made me have to fight harder, push harder and strive for better. The strength I’ve gained because I was born Black is a strength not everyone knows about!

Well-read reader issues a warning

Many decades ago my well-read grandfather warned my mother, his daughter-in-law, that she should keep an eye on Richard Nixon, who was a California politician at the time. As some of us know he became president who was under a threat of being impeached and resigned as a result.

My grandfather’s example compels me to express another warning about Trump, especially for those people who have not had the time or personal motivation to be informed and perhaps concerned.

A few weeks ago Trump signed an executive order to end the payroll tax as a response to the COVID economic needs. The payroll tax funds Social Security. You might assume this is a temporary situation. Trump also said he might push for the complete end to the payroll tax, which could end Social Security within five years. Many Republicans over the years have wanted to tamper with Social Security. Do you know anyone who would be negatively impacted by the end of this safety net program?

I am part Armenian. My great-grandparents escaped the Turkish genocide by being welcomed into the United States. If they had not been allowed into the United States, I would not have been born, which is true of many of you. Currently, under Trump, many qualified individuals are not let in and many current individuals are not being allowed to be sworn in as citizens even though qualified. Do you know anyone from another country who has had a positive impact on your life? (The way children at the border have been treated is another very long letter!)

Using the example of my grandfather’s warning, I warn the readers to do your own research and reflection. Trump is a danger the ways I described and much more. You have been warned.

History and the cult of Trump

Chief Justice Roger Taney died Oct. 12, 1864. President Abraham Lincoln could have appointed a new justice prior to the upcoming election on Nov. 8, but waited and nominated Samuel Chase on Dec. 6. Lincoln and Taney were political opponents. The president was trying to save the Union; the chief justice was openly pro-Confederacy and sympathized with the secessionists. Lincoln had authored the Emancipation Proclamation; Taney had authored the despicable Dred Scott decision and was reviled in the North. And yet Lincoln waited.

Samuel Chase was also Lincoln’s opponent, but a Republican and fiercely pro-Union. Chase served in Lincoln’s Cabinet after losing the nomination to Lincoln in 1860. And yet Lincoln elevated him to the office of chief justice. But Lincoln waited.

Abraham Lincoln was a Republican with ethics, integrity and respect for the institutions of government. Just because he could have filled an open seat on SCOTUS did not mean he should. And so, he waited. The president waited until after he was re-elected.

What has become of the Party of Lincoln? The GOP is dead. The Cult of Trump lives.

This story was originally published September 27, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Masks and COVID: Letters to the editor, Sept. 27, 2020."