A reminder to fill out the 2020 Census, then help friends and family who lack online access

There are well-known barriers to engaging in the important civic duty of participating in the 2020 Census, especially for people of color and immigrants. One barrier that has not received much attention is lack of internet access, which affects people of all ethnicities or immigration status, as well as the elderly.

Filling out the census questions at my2020census.gov is very easy, but people who can’t get to the Census website might be waiting for an outreach worker to contact them.

Here’s a better idea: Those who have internet access should help their family and friends who do not have the resources to get online. Helping someone submit their Census information is perfectly legal: the Census website states that the questionnaire “should be completed by the person who owns or rents the living quarters or any other person who is at least 15 years of age with knowledge of the household.”

Helping others can be done while maintaining social distancing, by obtaining the necessary information over the telephone. If someone has discarded the mailer form with their Census ID number, the questionnaire can still be completed online.

So in addition to performing your civic duty by completing the 2020 Census for yourself, help out your family and friends who want to be counted, but just need a little technological help to get the job done.

Marie Lindsey, New Lenox

Allied with Putin

President Trump has failed to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over Russian payments to the Taliban for “bounties” to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. Trump claims he wasn’t briefed even though it was in his written intelligence briefing. So he either read it and is lying, or he’s refusing to take action to protect our troops.

Since February, Trump has: 1) denied Russian interference in the 2016 election; 2) tried to reduce former President Obama’s sanctions on Russia for annexing Crimea; 3) invited Putin to the White House and; 4) urged that Russia be re-admitted to the G-7.

So Trump is allied with Putin against American soldiers.

Tom Minnerick, Elgin

Too much time

Mr. President, maybe you should try participating in in the national security briefings offered to you each day. You always have time for golf.

Warren Rodgers, Jr., Matteson

Reason, not rancor on statues

The letter “Tearing Down the Statues in a Rush of Sanctimony” (June 18) took courage to write and to publish, but said what needed to be said about the current excesses taking place. Taking a position that challenges current popular opinion runs the risk of one being labeled with the ubiquitous, arbitrary accusation of racist.

Defamatory language, along with the mass defacing and removal of statues, only exacerbates tensions and thus defeats the purpose of creating awareness regarding how these monuments celebrate past injustices. These acts of vandalism — “one was of an ardent abolitionist” — give a momentary sense of empowerment, but only create cosmetic change. These acts may feel good, but they do nothing that contributes to productive, needed change.

Telling a community, as in the case of a Christopher Columbus statue, whom to honor and whom not to honor is presumptuous, arrogant and fosters resentment and antagonism rather than change. This example of populist censorship damages one’s own cause.

In the quest for racial justice, reason should prevail over rancor, and harmony over acrimony, as we come together united in a common cause.

Roberta Motanky, Rogers Park