Community involvement big part of Drake renaming

In a letter published Dec. 6, author Robert A. Casper Sr. attempted to enlighten us with various truths that he considers “obvious.” This included that the majority of people don’t want the name of Sir Francis Drake High School to be changed, that a small gang of administrators is “bullying the rest of us” and that these bullies are obviously “Marin liberals.”

I’m curious as to how Casper arrived at his conclusion that those who are advocating for the name change because of Drake’s ties to the slave trade are political liberals. After reading through the various notes on the high school’s website from the leadership committee, I couldn’t find any indications of which political party the committee members or the participants in the process hewed to. I was also struck by the level of community involvement in the process that the committee followed to arrive at their recommendation, including teachers, students and members of the community.

It seems to me Casper is arbitrarily assigning a political label to anyone who doesn’t agree with his point of view. This kind of toxic thinking drives the divisiveness that we see in the U.S. today. It is what drove voters to repudiate the current administration and hand a landslide election victory to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

I hope Casper is able to make peace with the electoral outcome as 2021 unfolds, rather than continue to contribute to the divisiveness that has become a blight on our great country.

— Tom Short, San Rafael