A teacher’s race is not important

Your editorial saying that a diverse teaching force is a better teaching force is a perfect example of why Chicago is the big-city eyesore of the country.

Really? Various skin colors are important? No, quality teachers are important, regardless of their skin color. Your lame argument is similar to the one saying we need more black police officers in black neighborhoods. If a student is doing poorly, it isn’t because of his white teacher. If a citizen breaks the law, it’s not because the cop was white instead of black.

But say you want more black cops and teachers. That’s good and easy to remedy. More black people need to go to college and become teachers. More black cops ? Same thing — get your degree and go through the testing process.

Excuse-making doesn’t help the people of Chicago.

Mike Viola, Bartlett

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False accusations of voter suppression?

In a feeble attempt to backtrack on his earlier remarks about voter suppression, Trump adviser Justin Clark said, “My point was that Republicans historically have been falsely accused of voter suppression and that it is time we stood up to defend our own voters.”

The question is, were those accusations of attempted voter suppression actually false?

Before the 2008 election, Republicans embarked on a voter I.D. campaign in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio. When such a law was passed in Pennsylvania, one Republican representative stood in front of a group of fellow Republicans and said, “We said we would deliver Pennsylvania for the Republican candidate.....done.”

But in the previous major election, there had not been one claim of voter fraud in Philadelphia, a Democratic stronghold.

The problem with voter I.D laws is that there is usually a fee to acquire the necessary I.D. To then require it for voting creates a possible violation of the 24th Amendment, which forbids such obstacles to voting.

And then there is Florida. It was a practice in some poorer areas for ministers to take busloads of church members to early voting places. So many early voting places were closed down, moved to a more inconvenient location or were no longer open on Sundays. These initiatives were undertaken by Republicans.

So it seems treasonable to ask, are the accusations of attempted voter suppression truly false?

Dan Pupo, Orland Park