SE Fresno lot and 7-Eleven: Letters to the editor, Dec. 2, 2020

7-11 poor choice for open lot in Fresno

Regarding a new 7-11 near Roosevelt High School in Fresno: The surrounding community stressed the importance of having a green area, park or even a community center rather than a 7-Eleven. If the residents do not want a chain store in their neighborhood and advocated against it, why weren’t they heard?

I feel corporations are always taking over small communities. They will be selling tobacco products right across from a high school, which is a health risk. The southeast side of Fresno is flooded with convenience stores rather than grocery stores, parks and farmers markets, like the north side of Fresno. Southeast Fresno has always been a poor, underdeveloped food desert area, and the residents took those matters into their own hands by having taco trucks and other food vendors park on that lot to help feed the residents nearby and bring money back into the Black and brown community.

This chain store is not beneficial, but a hazard because of the increased traffic it will bring and panhandlers. Other 7-Eleven locations have multiple panhandlers at the door, and having this type of activity right across from the high school is dangerous to the students.

The voices of the community should be valued, rather than dismissed over corporate projects.

Police sergeant callous toward homeless

Shame on Sgt. Dewey of FPD for suggesting the charity of Akrim Mohsin and those inspired by his videos of our unhoused family might be “causing (the unhoused) to stay in their situation.” Does he think preventing the unhoused from receiving even the smallest kindness (fresh food, a warm coat) will magically inspire them to get a house any faster?

What a callous, short-sighted, and obtuse view from a man who spent four years leading Fresno’s homeless task force! I suggest the city take the $125k he made in 2019 (over double my salary as a teacher, by the way) and shelter 20 unhoused persons each year.

Cruelty like this is why we say “Defund the police, fund social services!”

Paying reparations is absurd idea

“Reparations for Blacks would change a system built on injustice” is absolutely absurd. We need to do a better job in teaching history to the American people.

Slavery dates from 3500 B.C. to the present. What we need is for all Americans to realize the importance of an education — with an emphasis on history, respect for others and the power in the right to vote.

You cannot compare or rationalize today with hundreds of years ago, or for that matter even 50 years ago. Our country was formed when slavery was common and worldwide. Our Constitution was created when most white men could not even vote. If we’re going to start paying for all of our injustices, we better start with the American Indians — after that there will be nothing left of our country.

Any person, man or woman, can make it to the top in our country — the proof is all around us. The focus should be on what we have achieved and all the good our country has done and still is doing. Quit living in the wrongs of the past and open your eyes to what is and can be achieved. We truly do have a great country.

This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "SE Fresno lot and 7-Eleven: Letters to the editor, Dec. 2, 2020."