Families shouldn’t have to depend on GoFundMe to afford funerals for innocent victims

To all politicians — either Democratic or Republican — and every millionaire, billionaire and giant corporations:

In this past week, we saw news of state representatives and senators putting away $4 billion for their pet projects, and headlines about Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Ken Griffin spending $100 million or more to get themselves or their preferred candidates elected. And the most recent and sad news from last weekend involved Melissa Ortega, 8, who was shot and killed on the streets of Chicago. Her family had to start a GoFundMe page just to get donations to bury her.

There is surely something greatly wrong with that picture.

Where are all the politicians and their million-dollar funds? I don’t hear them screaming about it.

Our elected officials needs to establish a fund with at least $100 million or more to help out these families. Innocent victims and their families should not have to resort to GoFundMe.

I put this challenge to our governor, mayor and all other politicians to put your money where your mouth is and do the right thing for the innocent victims and children who are killed every day because they were in the way of a gang-banger who shot indiscriminately.

Gerald Burnson, Tinley Park

Soulful restoration is underway

In 2022, the U.S. and our liberal allies are under siege like never before. However, I can soundly say that America is stronger than we were one year ago.

After much talk about a perceived Democratic weakness toward the Chinese Communist Party, President Joe Biden never flinched. Our push for human rights must persist, against Chairman Xi Jinping as well as the protection of Ukraine against the illegal annexations of the Russian Federation.

We have expanded our domestic social contract. The American people must never forget that only through struggle can an individual or a state garner the necessary grit to continue forward and live the existence of our dreams.

We passed the American Rescue Plan, increased funding for the Affordable Care Act, experienced record-low unemployment, increased wages, grew jobs and appointed cabinet choices of President Biden. We moved forward on issues that touch the lives of American families. We passed an expansion of the child tax credit, implemented the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, converted California ports to 24/7 operation to combat supply chain bottlenecks, extended the moratorium on student loan repayment and preserved DACA for our beautiful immigrants.

We are on the path to the soulful rejuvenation of our country. These are painful times, in the most intense sense, but we must remain steadfast as one nation.

Henry J.H. Wilson, Barrington