Help children emotionally thrive
Manhattan: A mental health crisis has been raging quietly in New York City for decades. And the hard truth — as the Daily News rightly highlighted this week — is that everyone is vulnerable, especially our little ones. (“Mental health care for children in need,” Op-Ed, Aug. 16). Research shows that half of all mental health conditions and substance use disorders start before the age of 14. And we know the earliest years of life are the most critical to long-term wellness, with 90% of brain development occurring before a child turns five. Unfortunately, far too many children suffer trauma and emotional distress during those years that would be difficult to process at any age.
That’s why, through our comprehensive mental health plan ThriveNYC, the City of New York is committed to acting early. We are proud to support the wonderful Brownsville Child Development Center featured in Wednesday’s Op-Ed, along with the six other top-of-the-line clinics that together comprise our Early Childhood Mental Health Network. These clinics serve young children in every borough, providing mental health treatment and consultation services that have never before been available for this age group.
In addition to this expansion of early childhood mental health services, we have set up a new training center for professionals who work directly with young children. Mental health counselors, pediatricians, early childhood teachers and others can get coaching on how to address the mental health needs of our littlest New Yorkers.
We also emphasize social and emotional learning in our City’s early childhood programs, so all young children can learn positive coping skills they can use throughout their lives and they can get extra support if they need it.
I often say that it’s easier to grow a healthy child than it is to mend a broken adult. By investing in prevention and early intervention, we help our youngest New Yorkers heal, grow and thrive. We have never had a real mental health care system. ThriveNYC is just a beginning and it’s up to all of us to push for continued progress.
Chirlane McCray, First Lady of New York City
State of hate
Brooklyn: Just wondering why Trump hasn’t invited David Duke and his followers to his New Jersey golf club yet. What a dis!
Gail Halpert
Idle worship
Brooklyn: Steve Bannon is out of the White House. A Confederate statue will reportedly take his place. David I. Goldstein Manhattan: As the granddaughter of Holocaust victims, I get a chill down my spine whenever I hear that other N-word, whether or not proceeded by “neo.”
Suzy E. Sandor
Respect Robert
Staten Island: Robert E. Lee was married to George Washington’s granddaughter. He worked with Ulysses S. Grant during the Mexican-American War and became a decorated war hero defending this country. He believed slavery was a great evil and his wife broke the law by teaching slaves to read and write. After the Civil War he worked with Andrew Johnson’s program of Reconstruction. He became very popular with the northern states, and the barracks at West Point were named in his honor in 1962. He was a great man who served this country his entire life in some form or other. His memorial is now being called a blight. No American military veteran should be treated like this. Lee Heydolph
Limits of speech
Bronx: Norman Siegel posits that groups have the constitutional right to assemble for purposes of disseminating hate speech and that in “open-carry” states like Virginia, they have the right to openly carry weapons at these assemblies (“Letting racists rally & speak,” Op-Ed, Aug. 16). Siegel suggests having a strong police presence at these assemblies. But the First Amendment protects the right only to assemble “peaceably.” Is a group of people displaying swastikas and other hateful symbols, brandishing weapons and chanting, “The Jews will not replace us” really acting peaceably and deserving of police protection? Freedom of speech taken to excess among those bearing arms is a nasty combination. One might say that overindulgence with respect to First Amendment and Second Amendment rights, taken in combination, is a societal third rail.
Zachary M. Berman
Russell up
Tempe, Ariz.: Russell Simmons’ open letter to President Trump is poignant and beautifully written (“Russell Simmons’ open letter to President Trump: ‘Wake the f--up,’ you’re better than this,” Aug. 18). If Trump has the capacity to feel emotion and remorse, this should hit home for him. If not, Simmons did what he could and he did it well. John P. White
No sale
East Elmhurst: Recently we debated whether a bakery can refuse to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Now I wonder: Can a store refuse to sell Tiki torches to alt-right marchers? I really don’t know the answer to this. Melanie N. Lee
Orwell in America
Brooklyn: With this campaign against symbols of hate, many are fearful of seemingly ordinary established statues and monuments and demand them to be removed as offensive. History shows us many dictatorships followed this plan too, censoring books, music, monuments, etc., to control how the masses are to think. We could be looking at the book “1984” in the present.
Joseph V. Comperchio
Friends of Jews
Boulder, Colo.: It makes me sad that so many people who, deliberately or because of lack of reliable information, still support the Israeli government’s 70-year oppression of the Palestinians. I, and I expect most of the supporters of BDS, do not oppose the large number of Israeli Jews who do not participate in the oppression of Palestinians, or who oppose it. Nor are we opposed to Jews as a religion or an ethnic group. Personally, I believe everyone has a right to exist, and that the world would be much poorer without the huge contribution of Jews to politics, art, culture, science and so on. Please stop mischaracterizing the supporters of BDS. Most of us are not haters of Jews, we are lovers of human rights for everyone.
Paul Angel
How to survive riptide
Brooklyn: The usual tips about how to swim to the shore line if you get caught up in a deadly riptide is only half the needed information. As you are being dragged out into the ocean by a riptide you must first get your head above water. I speak from personal experience. I was caught in a riptide in Florida. When I finally rolled around enough and my legs were near the ocean floor, I pushed them as hard as I could and shot myself upward to get my head above the water line. I took a good breath of air and then swam diagonally until I was able to get out of the forceful pull from the water’s tide. I didn’t panic, which is easy to do, but I sure knew I wasn’t going to be a victim. I was also pulled approximately 30-40 feet from the shore line in a matter of seconds. The most important thing to remember is: Do not swim alone, ever.
Marian McConnell
Don’t lose your heads
South Hempstead, L.I.: Now a human head is found in a shopping cart in the Bronx, and we’re still expected to believe the vacationing Bill de Blasio, maintaining that crime is down by record levels. Why don’t you stop your obsession with parsing President Trump’s language, Daily News, and do your job for New Yorkers? Michael Quane
Idol worship
Worcester, Mass.: Re: “ABC’s ‘American Idol’ is evidently a big mess as auditions are set to begin” (Aug. 17): I watched “American Idol” every night for all the years it was on. Ryan Seacrest is a great host. However, I do think stars, singers, should be the judges. Not Katy Perry, or a past winner. I’m not sure I’ll watch it if they don’t get good judges. You can do better. Keith Urban was good, Jennifer Lopez great, Harry Connick good, now they’ve moved on. So “American Idol” should be able to do better if you want to the audience.
Barbara Lavallee
Groucho forever
JAMES KEIVOM Bayonne: Today, Aug. 19, marks the 40th anniversary of the passing of Julius Henry Marx, otherwise - and affectionately — known as “Groucho.” Without doubt, Groucho Marx is one of the best comedians of all time. Unlike today’s comics, who mistakenly believe that being funny means being offensive and obscene and dropping “F-Bombs” throughout their shtick, Groucho relied on his quick, rapier wit to keep us all in stitches for over 70 years.
John Di Genio