HALL’S MENTOR

Our community will be missing a pillar whom many of us did not know about, Ira Hall.

As I read about his life in the Jan. 29 story “Ira Hall, arts supporter, Arsht board chair and ‘corporate game-changer,’ dies at 78,” the first name that came to mind was Clara Luper.

I was thrilled to read about her and her role in the often little-known early civil-rights movement.

During the 20 years my family lived in Oklahoma, I was privileged to learn her story and details of the bombing of Greenwood, the Black Wall Street, in Tulsa.

I feel richer for learning chapters of African-American history, and about the ordeals Native Americans faced.

I conducted oral histories with Jewish pioneers there and learned the stories of Syrian-Lebanese people who also lived there.

We must continue learning the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly of our country, so that we can move forward and make it a more livable place for all.

We cannot allow socalled uncomfortable portions of our history be erased for the convenience of small-minded people. – Annette B. Fromm, Miami Beach topics that don’t conform to those accepted by white Christian conservatives — may be ill-founded.

Thanks to DeSantis’ advocacy of open-carry gun laws without permit requirements, which are likely to pass in the Republican-controlled state Legislature, many children may not survive childhood.

Their educational deficits may be a moot concern.

I thought Donald Trump was a danger to freedom and democracy. DeSantis is Trump on steroids, in more palatable packaging.

– Sheila Gewirtzman,

Plantation