Black Lives Matter is here to stay

I was watching a discussion about Black Lives Matter on the TV program “The View” and it dawned on me that some people really believe the BLM movement will someday end.

Allow me to clear up a few false assumptions. Black Lives Matter won’t ever end. Public support for the movement has increased steadily over the years, since the fatal shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown to the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.

As long as racism and racists exist, threatening the lives and livelihood of Black people, the BLM movement, which has transcended globally, will continue to thrive.

BLM is not a fad political statement. It is not some bill waiting to be passed by Congress. BLM as a proclamation, made by the emergence of liberated, socially conscious and economically empowered group of people who refuse to allow this country to further systematically kill, imprison, terrorize, marginalize or oppress Black people.

BLM is unequivocally the beginning of a modern-day Renaissance. It will define the future of this country for generations to come — for all people.

As crazy as it may sound, America is going through a metamorphosis and purge at the same time. History will be rewritten, and America will become a much better place despite the president’s divisive and shameful attempts to stoke the flames of hatred and cultural divide.

William J. Booker
Founder of Black Men Matter
Chicago

Still want to defund the police?

In Chicago in just the last several days, gun violence has taken the lives of six innocent children between the ages of 1 to 7, as well as the lives of numerous other victims. And this is happening not just in Chicago. There’s been a surge of gun violence and killings elsewhere in several states. So, do those who are demanding that the police be defunded still think that’s a good idea?

Be careful what you wish for. Defunding would do more harm than good.

John Moravecek, Naperville

False promise of graduated tax

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has given millions of dollars in his own money to efforts to gain voter approval of a graduated income tax for Illinois. At first blush, this “tax the rich” plan sounds good. But Pritzker knows that more people leaving our state will mean less tax revenue. It then will become necessary to lower the threshold for higher tax rates, under the graduated tax, to include already hard-pressed families. Instead of trying to scam us, why doesn’t the governor donate this huge sum to fixing the state’s budget shortfalls or filling in a pension hole.

Stop trying to fool us, governor. Come up with a viable plan to cut the waste from your budget.

Robert W. Dart, Niles