Tuesday’s Letters to the Editor

Tragic milestone

EDITOR: I noticed something remarkable in the Press Democrat on Thursday — a noteworthy milestone for America that is tragic yet inevitable. All four articles on Page B4 detailed mass shootings that occurred in less than a week: Atlanta; Mojave; Henryetta, Oklahoma; and Cleveland, Texas. Sixteen dead, several injured, and many of them children. Sad. Pathetic. GOP. NRA. Oh, I’m sorry, I almost forgot to offer the obligatory thoughts and prayers. There, now I feel better.

PATRICK CORCORAN

Occidental

A welcoming region

EDITOR: I am Northern California born and raised and can attest to the fact that when people emphasize “Northern CA” it has to do with pride in our region, not racism (“LGBTQ+ debate is lacking tolerance,” Thursday). Agriculture, diversity, acceptance, weather, nature, as opposed to the faster-paced celebrity and plastic-surgery perfection of Southern California. It’s a rivalry we grew up with.

In the greater Bay Area there is a great deal of international culture, including immigrants from around the world and incomers from around the country, as well as thriving gay communities. In Sonoma County, we’re progressives enjoying redwoods, hiking trails, wine, rugged coastlines and accepting of “aliens,” LGBTQ+ people and others. Yes, there are conservatives here, racists as well, but the majority in the Bay Area votes blue. The Sonoma County Tourism Bureau has campaigns to attract gay visitors. When racism and intolerance rear their ugly head, the response is to improve and be better, not to retaliate.

A third of the neighbors on my middle-class block have roots in Mexico. We live together as good friends and neighbors. What we don’t have are horrid racial tensions to the degree that less-welcoming regions have. Other than that, I agree with columnist John Crisp’s sentiments on acceptance and diversity, just not the opinion he shared of Northern Californians.

MELINDA GAY

Windsor

Appreciating teachers

EDITOR: The California Retired Teachers Association joins Californians statewide to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week and California’s Day of the Teacher on Wednesday. We honor our fellow educators who have given so much during the past few years. Though teachers always go above and beyond in their goal to support, encourage and educate California’s youth, the past few years these professionals have endured untold challenges. We thank them for their hard work and send our heartfelt appreciation today and every day. And remember, if you can read this, you should thank a teacher.

CAREN FRANCI

and LORRAINE MARTINEZ

Co-presidents, CalRTA Division 39 Sonoma County

Displays of intolerance

EDITOR: I appreciated David Brooks’ column on soul and moral essence (“For Biden, election is about America’s morality,” May 1). It seems we have entered a dangerous time when, as Brooks points out, we must choose the path we will take — moral elevation or degradation.

It was interesting to read Brooks’ column on the day when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott commented on the murder of five members of a family by an angry neighbor with a semi-automatic weapon. Abbott could serve as the poster boy for our loss of soul. I guess he couldn’t help himself, or he just wanted to throw red meat to the MAGA base, but with casual cruelty and breathtaking insensitivity, he called out the victims, and the grieving survivors of the carnage, as illegal immigrants. Just like that they were dehumanized, labeled, stereotyped, no longer “us” but “them.” Their grief was discounted as they became pawns in some mean-spirited political game.

I believe that Abbott would call himself Christian. But I wonder how he and other intolerant, self-proclaimed Christians deal with Jesus’ words about caring for the “least of these,” loving enemies and finding true life in service and self-giving, or with his insistence that we are all one. That is the path of moral essence, the path of the soul, if we just dare to take it.

The REV. GENE NELSON

Sebastopol

Crosswalk fatalities

EDITOR: I am 74 years old and have a crosswalk rule that I follow. Stop, look both ways. If a car is coming assume it won’t stop, and wait. Cars always win. They have great mass and are made out of metal. Humans are made of much more fragile materials and have a lot less mass. While the law of man says you have the right of way, the law of God says you are dead.

JACK BURGER

Cazadero

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.