Two recent articles in the Sun-Times struck me as incredibly shocking. On Sunday, an article reported our president is considering a pardon for boxer Jack Johnson, convicted of accompanying a white woman across state lines under Jim Crow law. While this was an egregious conviction over 100 years ago, I wonder: Why now?
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Mr. Trump showed no mercy toward the Central Park Five, black youths wrongfully convicted and released after years of confinement, and he never rescinded his call for bringing back the death penalty for “muggers and murderers,” nor apologized. I am pretty sure that he doesn’t know that Malcolm Little — later Malcolm X — was convicted under a similar law and incarcerated. Nor does he show any compassion for thousands of people, mostly black and Latino men in prison wrongly accused of minor drug possession of marijuana, thousands disenfranchised of their vote after serving prison times, let alone the large number of people of all colors, ages and sexual orientations murdered by what used to be illegal assault weapons.
The second article, in Monday’s paper, reported on the massacre at a Waffle House in Tennessee by a man who had been detained outside the White House with a semi-automatic weapon. This man was released, although he was suspected of mental illness, according to the Nashville Police Chief, and his seized weapons released to his father, who promised (falsely) that he wouldn’t allow his son access to them. The man was able to kill four people before being subdued by a customer in the restaurant.
Both these stories reflect an orchestrated disregard on the part of too many Americans for human life and safety.
John Obeda, Andersonville
When will craziness stop?
Forget about issues such as having assault rifles in a “civilized” society or the need for attending to mental health issues. The real problem may be the desire for waffles that would put restaurant patrons in danger for their lives.
That theory makes the same amount of sense as the antiquated Second Amendment, which is making it possible for nutcases and terrorists to have access to firearms. When is this craziness going to stop? Or are we to give up eating waffles?
Mel Novit Morton Grove
Heinous bill
On April 18, the House Agriculture Committee cleared HR 4879, a truly atrocious bill, for debate on the House floor. This bill, introduced by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, targets California’s egg-laying law, but is written so broadly that it could nullify hundreds or even thousands of state and municipal laws that currently protect consumers, children, and citizens across the nation. The bill could legalize horse meat and nullify laws protecting dogs, cats, and farm animals. It could remove labeling requirements that protect us from food-borne illnesses, and could eliminate multiple laws dealing with alcohol, tobacco, and opioids.
Fortunately there is still time to stop this heinous bill from becoming law, but it requires constituents like you and me to contact our senators and representatives and urge them to reject King’s legislation, H.R. 4879.
Shane Geringer, Schererville, Indiana
