Don’t blame Chicago’s top cop for Memorial Day weekend gun violence

Chicago’s cops issued 300 dispersal orders to crowds each day over the Memorial Day weekend. They also confiscated 216 guns — 68 more than last year — and arrested 86 people for gun offenses.

Nevertheless, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has seen fit to say that Chicago’s new top cop, David Brown, has failed because the city experienced its most violent weekend since 2015.

Yes, 10 people murdered and 42 wounded is unacceptable. But in all fairness, was it, as Mayor Lightfoot says, Police Supt. Brown’s failure? Or is he a convenient scapegoat, for political reasons?

It seems to me that a few weeks ago he tried an old tactic, surging police into high-crime areas to tamp down violence. Yet he was quickly second-guessed by aldermen for stripping officers from their districts. And when Brown was sworn in, the mayor stated that she “got her man.” Are we to believe now that he’s not her man?

Bob Angone, retired CPD lieutenant, Miramar Beach, Florida

Voter fraud a figment of GOP imagination

Republicans of the post-Civil War era wanted all 21-year-old males to vote. They pushed hard for the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to be enforced during Reconstruction.

Opponents at that time, mainly Southern Democrats — Dixiecrats — did not cry “voter fraud.” They openly admitted to not wanting black people to have any civil rights, including voting rights.

Today, Republicans claim there will be voter fraud if we allow widespread mail-in voting. One Illinois Republican House leader stated that mail-in voting fraud was as likely as the sun rising. All 19 Illinois Republican senators voted no on this issue.

Where is the proof of such fraud? The most recent Illinois primary had more mail-in votes than ever before. I heard nothing of fraud. And how about western states that have used this method of voting for years?

Does the definition of voter fraud include kicking people off voter rolls if they did not vote in the last election? Is it asking people if they used a middle initial on a voter card they signed 20 years ago? Is it a butterfly-designed ballot, with its misaligned rows?

What happened to the Party of Lincoln? The answer came from the party’s leader when he said what’s really the problem — expanding the vote is bad for Republicans.

Jan Goldberg, Riverside

What makes someone racist?

In response to Amy Cooper’s claim that she is not a racist, one only has to see and hear the video of the confrontation she had in Central Park earlier this week when she called police on an African American man.

Amy, if it looks like you’re a racist, and if it sounds like you’re a racist....

Dan Pupo, Orland Park