LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We must not remain silent

On May 7 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote about the preparation for the Civil Rights Pilgrimage of three area high schools — Divine Savior Holy Angels, Messmer and Marquette (“Civil rights journey begins at 16th St. viaduct”).

I was privileged to travel with the group as we stopped in Memphis, Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma and St. Louis to visit museums and churches and to listen to speakers who shared first-hand accounts of their experience of the civil rights movement.

This pilgrimage had a profound impact on each of the students and adults. My heart was touched and torn as I witnessed in pictures and stories the dehumanization of individuals throughout the history of our country.

Unfortunately, today I see that many things have not changed; the dehumanization of individuals is simply taking a new form. When our society incarcerates millions of individuals with little or no ability for rehabilitation, we dehumanize these individuals. When we accept the use of pornography as common place and allow women to be treated as sex objects, we are dehumanizing them. When a Muslim family or a Hispanic family is told to “get out,” we are dehumanizing these families.

Our country today is divided in so many ways, but we should be united in our belief that we will never allow the dehumanization of any individual to occur again. The majority of Americans would strongly agree with the belief that all people are created equal and should be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve. Yet a small portion of our society are creating a culture of mistrust, fear and at times violence.

Hate can never be the answer, hate can never win — love must prevail.

For many people, hate is not the problem, the problem is apathy. Apathy has become the rule of the land, with poor voter turnout, with legislatures failing to pass meaningful laws. It always seems to be someone else’s problem or fault.

It is time to make a change. When there is an injustice, something needs to be said. When someone is being treated unfairly, something needs to be done. We can no longer remain apathetic. We can no longer remain silent.

Jerry Herda Bay View

What about the rest of us?

I have not heard anyone ask Gov. Scott Walker why the $100 refund per dependent child from our tax surplus fund is paid only to taxpayers with dependent children.

Why were taxpayers like my son, who is serving in the military, students trying to pay for college tuition, people with huge medical bills, taxpayers trying to pay back college loans, elderly on fixed incomes, non-parents, parents whose children are out of the house, people who have lost their jobs or one of a multitude of other scenarios not included in this great refund idea?

My wife and I paid thousands of dollars in state tax last year and yet receive nary a dime. I am sure we all could use a bit of our money back.

Why is the refund so limited in scope? Might it be because if everyone who filed a state tax return was included, the refund might have been worth somewhere around a $1.69 per tax payer?

But it certainly cannot be about getting votes. He missed most of the state.

Thomas Plasky

Sobieski

Police work isn’t pretty

As a retired police sergeant, I am so glad that I am retired when I see how the media, politicians and police command staff make a joke of being a police officer today.

I would never recommend the job to anyone when I see that officers are discarded and used as pawns to take the pressure off of the politicians and command staff. There used to be a time when, if you did not follow an officer’s justified orders or directions, you were arrested, and most politicians and command staff backed you up.

Now they have all caved in to being politically correct. They apologize before an investigation is completed, and the media can’t get enough video of officers using justified force. Officers must now tell someone repeatedly to please listen to them, and then beg them some more, and maybe warn them another time or two before they might have to touch them.

Was everything regarding the contact with Sterling Brown textbook perfect? No. In police work it usually doesn’t work that way. People don’t want to listen to police officers, especially today. Brown is an athletic young man, fully capable of walking the 10 extra feet to park legally, but he chose to park across two handicapped parking spaces. If he had complied with the officer’s directions, it might have been a warning or a deserved ticket, but he did not.

Now the officers and sergeants are being punished to make the police department look good and not offend anyone. Does anyone wonder why Milwaukee used to have a large waiting list of very qualified candidates eager to become police officers and now it cannot get enough qualified candidates to even apply?

I feel bad for all of the young people who actually want to become police officers to help the community but can’t take the chance today of losing their career due to so many people second guessing their work and looking at bits and pieces of video. Police work many times is not pretty and it never will be.

Richard Gayan Milwaukee

Please email your letters to jsedit@jrn.com, or mail them to Letters to the editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, P.O. Box 371, Milwaukee, Wis. 53201-0371. Letters should be about 200 words.