LETTERS: Good cops are stuck with the stigma left by Jon Burge

The shameful stench of Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his crew of detectives participating in police torture tactics is an anchor around anyone who was or is a member of the Chicago Police Department. From the early 1970s thru the early 1990s, the majority of us who wore that uniform and served this city have lived with the rumors, the accusations, the denials, the ongoing evidence and the millions paid out to the injured (“The shameful story of Chicago’s Jon Burge” — Aug. 28).

This sad chapter is now headed for the classrooms for the eighth- and 10th-grade students of Chicago’s public school students. It is my hope that the teachers will use the word “some” when describing the cops who are accused. Twenty cops and one commander does not tell the accurate story of the other thousands that have served then and even now with courage and honor.

We have to keep in mind that Harold Washington was the mayor who selected Fred Rice to be superintendent, and it was Fred Rice who promoted Jon Burge to commander of detectives in Area 2. Also at that time we had as state’s attorney Richard M. Daley, whose office prosecuted the Burge arrestees. The people of Chicago elected Daley five times to be their mayor.

We all heard the rumors during those times. Few of us were privy to the arrests and prosecutions, but it seems obvious to me that more than one commander and 20 cops were involved in this detestable part of Chicago’s history. Supervision and accountability is a must in any organization, but it should not extend to just Chicago’s cops. The failure and lack of accountability extends to many others, and the sooner we admit that, as Police Supt. Eddie Johnson has said, the sooner we can go forward.

Sooner or later, we have to realize that supervision and accountability are crucial and vital components. Those students will surely learn that to ignore history is to repeat it.

Bob Angone, Miramar Beach, Florida

Unfair notion

I read with great pleasure and agreement Alysia Tate’s opinion column in the Aug. 18 Sun-Times (“Take it from me — and my father — anti-white bias is not the problem”). Until I got near end, where she stated: “I have yet to hear one white friend or colleague share stories like this.”

Well, let me be the first to disabuse her of this so unfair and false notion. I, and so many others, have provided housing, comfort, money, food and support to many friends, white, brown and black, over the years. I do so because I believe it is right, not because of the color of their skin or ethnicity. There are good, decent people in this world, no matter their gender or race.

Patrick Gambone, Streeterville

Human decency in Houston

In the midst of all the chaos that accompanied Hurricane Harvey these past few days, there were also encouraging signs of a revival of human decency. There didn’t seem to be any class distinctions, no ethnic profiling, no outward signs of political or religious affiliation when drowning people were pulled from the abyss. It was simply neighbors helping other neighbors and channeling their basic instincts for survival.

What a world apart from the goings-on in Charlottesville, and what a testament to the innate goodness of the human condition. It gives one hope that bipartisan accord is always achievable if only we can overlook petty differences and a tradition of hatred and do what we all know to be right.

Bob Ory, Elgin