They’re children, not predators

Brooklyn: In reporting on the tragic incident at a Bronx school where a young person lost his life, the Daily News reverted to using racist and harmful language to describe students of color (“Earning its nickname: Zoo School,” Sept. 28). Young people of color are not delinquents, thugs, superpredators or zoo animals. Using words like “predator,” “jungle” and “zoo” only supports racist notions that some among us are less than human and inherently violent, wild and out-of-control.

When people think of us as animals, thugs and predators, it justifies prioritizing police officers, metal detectors and jail over comprehensively supporting our social, emotional and mental health. Research shows building strong relationships at schools, using restorative approaches and increasing students’ access to guidance counselors and social workers is the most effective way of sustaining safe and supportive school environments.

To move forward and make sure our schools receive the support and resources we need, we need people to leave behind the racist rhetoric and recognize our humanity. Keith Fuller

They never learn

White Plains, N.Y.: I lost one month’s salary and health benefits for defending myself against a violent student. Now I’m back in classroom terrified I can wind up like that child in the Bronx. Dead or jobless. Eileen Ghastin

Speaking for speech

Bloomfield, N.J.: Thank you, Alan Dershowitz, for standing up for free speech (“Listen or censor? A test for Columbia,” Op-Ed, Sept. 27). How can anyone learn anything without listening? Crafting a compelling argument and presenting it in a way to persuade others to your point of view is vital. Why do learning institutions think hearing only one point of view will produce anything of value?Lee Anne Aires

Reforming ‘reform’

Hicksville, L.I.: I would like someone to explain to me why reducing the number of brackets is considered tax reform. It is not the number of brackets that make our tax code so complex but rather the obscure provisions that accountants find for their clients, particularly business clients. A perfect example of this is the inversion loophole, whereby a large company purchases a smaller company headquartered in a lower-tax country and magically they are now able to claim they are subject to that country’s tax laws. Currently, an increase in brackets means a 5% or so increase in tax rate — but under this new plan, going from the lowest to the next bracket more than doubles the tax rate. I realize that the new rate only applies to income above the top of the previous rate, but it still seems far too much. Joe Squerciati Brooklyn: To Voicer Kevin Moriarty: I don’t know who’s dumber — the person who wrote that letter or the people who published it. Matadors don’t fight Brahma bulls. They fight bulls. You know, male cows. And it was William the Conqueror, not Norman the Conqueror, who conquered Britain in 1066. He was a Norman, that’s true, but his name was William.

Perry Greenberg

Open your eyes

Raleigh, N.C.: When are the people and states that voted for this idiot going to acknowledge they were wrong? He continually feeds nonsense to their ignorant and racist passions to manipulate them. Just like he is fooling people with this flag and anthem controversy. Colin Kaepernick is making a statement about the injustice and inequality black people endure from police in this country. He makes no mention of the flag or anthem — although frankly those symbols aren’t worth the words or material they are made of. I told anyone who would listen that if this man was elected we would return to the 1960s in terms of race relations. Any honest citizen must admit we are going backward. Robin Grant Ocean, N.J.: Kneeling is a basic human position where one or both knees touch the ground. It is used as a resting position during childbirth and as an expression of reverence and submission. Taking a knee is a sign of compassion as well as honoring the fallen or injured. To genuflect is to lower one’s body briefly by bending one knee to the ground, typically in worship or as a sign of respect. Those objecting to the owners and players of the NFL lowering themselves to one knee are simply distorting the act as disrespect to the flag. Michael Kostin

Stop him now

Manhattan: Trump has said that he does not like the fact that football has become less violent. He also promoted a video showing him hitting Hillary Clinton in the back by a golf ball, in order to incite his supporters to commit acts of violence against Hillary. At the UN, an organization whose goal is world peace, he said he would like to destroy North Korea. Trump is a powder keg who is ready to explode and would like to get us into a war. He must be thrown out of the White House before he does any more damage to this country.

Reba Shimansky

A national disgrace

Whitestone: As a proud Marine veteran, I have a suggestion about where these individuals can kneel: They can choose any national cemetery across this great nation or abroad where thousands of American men and women are buried who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms that they so take for granted and abuse. I have never been so brokenhearted and ashamed as I am seeing the display of disrespect being shown to our flag. Our servicemen and women and police officers who protect and serve us daily deserve better. They are not always perfect and have made mistakes, but so have these overpaid phonies. The cry of police brutality and racial prejudice as the reason why they take such action compels me to say: “The record is old, the song played out, it’s time to change the tune.” I will never again watch another football game or support those corporate sponsors who feed into this national disgrace.

Roger Monaco

Turn it off

Kings Park, L.I.: Boycott football! What they are doing is disrespectful to the flag and all Americans. Protest somewhere else!

Angela Saporito

Hung out to dry

Brooklyn: I am appalled that President Trump has turned his back on Puerto Rico after this devastating hurricane. We are proud Americans whose hundreds of thousands of fathers, mothers, uncles, brothers and friends served, and are still serving, in the U.S. military. They fought in many U.S. wars to keep our shores safe from our enemies, since we love our home, the United States. I sadly recall going to Puerto Rico to bury my father, whose casket was draped in the American flag, and I can still hear “Taps” being played. President Trump claims to fully support the military. Where is his allegiance to these men and women who now need the United States’ humanitarian support on the island? Sonia Valentin

The cure to ignorance

Hixson, Tenn.: Re “Mother strongly against vaccines ordered to vaccinate son or face jail time” (Sept. 28): I wonder whether the judge might be willing to add a requirement for sterilization as well, so no more children are subjected to repercussions of GO NAKAMURA/DAILY NEWS misinformed, but well-meaning parents. Yes, I know that’s like killing a fly with a hand grenade, but some days it seems like it might be the only option left, as those individuals who identify as anti-Vaxxers seem to be impervious to education on the subject and possessed of a fervor that can be best described as fanatical. No amount of research done by private industry, universities or government organizations ever seems sufficient to sway them from their opinions. In truth, they are not that much different than people who believe the earth is 6,000 years old, or those who believe that NASA is keeping children as slaves on the planet Mars. Karlton George Kemerait

Way off track

Woodside: Now the MTA suggests it may cut millions of dollars in repair work if the mayor doesn’t pay up? It is time for Gov. Cuomo — who runs the MTA — to stop playing chicken with our commute. The city has already paid its fair share and put forward a proposal to tax the rich if Cuomo needs more money. This is just Cuomo playing politics.

Erin Mahoney

Unfriending our principles

Penasco, N.M.: Re: “DOJ demands Facebook info on users who liked Trump protest page” (Sept. 29): Isn’t it amazing and disturbing that there isn’t anyone at the Justice Department who understands the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

Emanuele Corso