Letters Monday: Bernie Sanders’ faux Achilles Heel

Laura Washington’s column of July 6 suffers from a failure to inform in regard to Bernie Sanders’ Achilles heel, aka the black vote. While she’s accurate in reporting on the state which Sanders represents, Ms. Washington paints Sen. Sanders as have something of a racial blindspot. What she fails to mention, and here is where she fails in her journalistic duties to her readers, is that Bernie Sanders was a local chapter leader of the Congress for Racial Equality while a student at the University of Chicago in the 1960′s, and protested racist, unfair housing policies.This small mention would paint a wholly different picture, this one of a man who has been an activist for black interests as far back as a half century ago. That’s not to mention that expanded health care, free college tuition and a $15 an hour minimum wage, all of which Sanders supports, would go far in beginning to ameliorate institutional racism in the U.S.It’s bad enough that liberal and socialist have become dirty words in the right-leaning political discourse in this country. (Democracy is a liberal political philosophy. Socialism is something the Big Banks are enjoying but the average citizen is not.) Perhaps Ms. Washington should reconsider using the goofy, derogatory-sounding term lefties, and instead use the preferred term of respect, progressives.I often enjoy Ms. Washington’s viewpoints, but this sort of writing is doing readers and, whether she knows it or not, Ms. Washington herself, as a journalist, a disservice. She is correct that lefties’ love is not enough to make Sanders a serious competitor against Big Money candidates. What would help is providing the public a mature and honest reading of the senator and his history.Michael R. Jones. Crystal Lake, ILSEND LETTERS TO: letters@suntimes.com (Please include the name of your neighborhood or suburb, and a phone number for verification.)

It’s great to know that the Taste of Chicago is still inclusive for patrons. The majority of restaurants serve meat, poultry, fish and dairy. However, some of these same eateries inclusively and rightly offer savory vegan and vegetarian entrees to assuage the palates of humane individuals who prefer meatless cuisine for animal welfare, spiritual and ecological reasons.Brien Comerford, Glenview