READERS RESPOND

More pressing issues than renaming Columbus Day

Once again, the City Council finds a way to distract Baltimoreans from the real problems facing us (“Unheeded history: Why Indigenous Peoples’ Day is overdue,” Sept. 21). Renaming Columbus Day should barely move from the bottom of that list. I’m indifferent to Christopher Columbus, but to my Italian American neighbors he’s a big deal. Why not save this issue for another day?

Our leaders should focus on the horrific damage to our economy caused by the coronavirus pandemic and how it has negatively impacted education. They also should research the criminal legacy of the Catherine Pugh administration and, as always, Baltimore’s unacceptable murder rate. Indigenous Peoples’ Day can wait!

It might be worth the City Council’s time to learn there already is an American Indian Heritage Day on the state calendar. This year it will fall on Nov. 27. We don’t need two days for the same purpose.

R. N. Nester, Baltimore

Arguments for Electoral College don’t add up

Jonah Goldberg’s arguments for not scrapping the Electoral College seem to argue for scrapping it (“Scrapping the Electoral College is bad idea,” Sept. 18). He claims implementing it would require a “wholesale revision of the Constitution.” No, it only requires an amendment, which has occurred 27 times. He claims recounts would be a logistical disaster, but they’re only required now because a few hundred votes in a few states can swing the whole election. Then he argues it’s undesirable for the government to answer to “50% plus one of voter.” Yet isn’t the government instead answering to 46.1% as in the 2016 election and possibly as low as 25% plus one voter in the future even worse?

Mr. Goldberg further claims if the Electoral College were eliminated, “Candidates would be incentivized to rack up huge majorities among their bases.” Sounds like the current campaign to me. With the Electoral College, all presidential campaigning is focused on voters in a few swing states because the candidates know a vote in those states counts much more than a vote in the other states. Eliminating the Electoral College allows each person’s vote to count equally — an idea Mr. Goldberg believes is only held by a “pure-democracy fetishist” — and ensures the president speaks for the majority of Americans.

Charles Wheatley, Baltimore

Howard County has more work to do on school equity

As Howard County makes strides to be a progressive community and align with our constantly changing society, we continue to see a pattern of racial inequity in the workplace, in housing distribution and access, and in public health. This problem does not fall to our local leaders alone. Many of us, students and young adults, would like to see a change in this county’s long-standing discriminatory practices toward minority groups, both explicit and implicit.

Students have a unique experience with racism and discrimination that affects us in the classroom, in our communities and in the workplace. Young voices are propelling motions for racial equality across the nation including in Howard County through petitions, protests and other forms of activism. Hundreds of students have testified to experiencing discrimination in Howard County schools. Examples include the aftermath of the school redistricting plan, racial profiling of students of color by school resource officers, the Eurocentric school curriculum, use of racial slurs by students and teachers, and so many more troubling accounts.

Moreover, in both elementary and secondary schools in Howard County, 80% or more of the teaching staff is white. What message are we sending students of color when they have little to no representation in their schools? As students pushing for an open dialogue about this county’s past and present discrimination toward minority groups, we need our leaders to provide renewed protections and equitable policies for marginalized minority groups. The Howard County Council has taken the first steps to accomplish this goal through its proposed Racial Equity Task Force under the direction of Councilmembers Christiana Rigby and Opel Jones (“Howard County Council to introduce bills to end ICE contract, create racial task force following summer protests,” Sept. 2). HoCo Students for Equity support this effort and are dedicated to the work ahead to create a more equitable Howard County.

Riley Macon, Laurel

The writer is founder of HoCo Students for Equity.