This Fourth of July is different

Spring Hill, Fla.: As I sit here in Florida, where the pandemic has taken a turn for the worse, I think back to one of the best days of my youth. It was 1962, and there was a Fourth of July block party on Claywood Dr., in Brentwood, L.I. We played softball, swam, teased the girls on the block, who were roller-skating or playing hopscotch. All this while the grown-ups would talk, play cards, or grill more burgers. The party lasted into the night, with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis or Johnny Mathis playing. The only debate was about who was the better player, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays.

At that time, I never realized life would change so much as I got older. This year, there are no neighborhood BBQs, no gatherings of 50 people or more. The pandemic has taken over this holiday.

I often wish that life would have stayed the same, or, at least, how I remember it was that day. Lenny Nicotri

American history

Merion Station, Pa.: 250 years ago, the murder of black protester Crispus Attucks and four others at the Boston Massacre sparked a revolution that changed the world. May the senseless murder of George Floyd be the catalyst that revolutionizes race relations in our deeply polarized country! Paul L. Newman

Heroic scale

Staten Island: To Voicer Joseph Stanislaus: The reason Colin Kaepernick is able to protest is because of heroes like Pat Tillman and countless others who have sacrificed their lives so that others can live free. Kaepernick is not in the same league as Tillman and should not be considered a hero. Steven Vosilla

Kneeling, explained

Bronx: Voicer Paul Jablonski wonders how race car driver Bubba Wallace feels about fans who see football players, “disrespecting the American flag.” Mr. Jablonski, no one is disrespecting the flag. The players have said as much. The protests are about police brutality and inequality. Your refusal to see things as they truly are shows you’re part of the problem.

Jonathan Solomon

Salute

Tamarac, Fla.: Our country is growing to realize that equality, human rights, dignity, integrity, freedom, liberty, justice, and truth are our foundation. This is for all people. We need sustainable peace within our borders, and sustainable peace globally. We must do this without the violence of the past. America is an inclusive country. Our flag is a symbol: white for our pure intentions and ideals, blue for our vigilance and justice, and red for our courage.

Louis Cohen

The big [sic]

Manhattan: The Voicers and New York City Council members who argue for the removal of Thomas Jefferson’s statue from the Council Chamber in City Hall ignore that it was Jefferson who inscribed in the Declaration of Independence the immortal words, “All men [sic] are created equal.” It was this concept that formed the ideological infrastructure of our Republic, and constitutes the foundation of today’s movement for black equality. Aviva Cantor

Speak out

Wyandanch, L.I.: People of color, women, LGBTQ: please share your stories, especially the hard-to-tell ones, with individuals you might not normally share them with. Many people go around saying “I have ‘X’ friends, and that’s never happened to them.” But, it has. How many women have been abused? How many queer individuals have been harassed? How many of us are smiling on the outside, trying to pretend it’s all fine? We need to share our stories. Jason Reed

Those in need

Cincinnati: This 4th of July is harder than recent ones. The spread of the coronavirus has escalated hunger emergencies across the globe. While quarantining at home, you can take action. Like students from Mount St. Joseph University and elsewhere, you can use the online game FreeRice to raise funds for the UN World Food Program. You can also write to Congress, urging food aid at home and abroad.

William Lambers

Post-mortem

Massapequa, L.I.: To Voicer Howard Katz who says President Trump should move to Russia, so he can ruin that country like he has ruined ours: Is it the world’s strongest economy that ruined the U.S.A.? Perhaps it was the renegotiations of all the unfair trade deals? Wait, it must be the record low unemployment of every race that did us in. President Trump did nothing to ruin this great nation. It was liberal socialists like you that began dismantling America.

Tom Ascher

Leaderless

Rockaway Park: America has been fortunate to have had great leaders in times of crisis. President Roosevelt led us through the Great Depression. Truman led us to victory in World War II. Kennedy led us through the Cuban missile crisis, and President Obama averted a second Depression. Not only is the current president failing to lead or bring the country together, he denies that the current crises are even that serious.

Anthony Johnson

Hedge of allegiance

South River, N.J.: The president’s primary responsibility as the commander-inchief of our Armed Forces is to protect the men and women serving under his command. And yet, every time there has been a confrontation between American Intelligence and our enemies in Russia, he has sided with our enemies. He has also vilified our veterans and Gold Star families. In one conversation about veterans returning home with PTSD, he had the nerve to suggest they were weak. This coming from the bonespur fraud himself.

Don McSorley

‘Day after day’

Valley Stream, L.I.: Voicer Audrey Wolfe: Don’t forget The Beatles also penned Trump’s current theme song, “The Fool On The Hill.”

Vinnie Scroix

Mind games

Brooklyn: Mayor de Blasio: The thought of having BLACK LIVES MATTER displayed on Fifth Ave. brings pleasure, unfortunately, Trump holds a grudge like no other, and N.Y. will need the federal assistance. Instead, keep the threat alive by rescheduling the work over, and, over, and over again.

Anne Slamka

Peter out

Manhattan: We should remove monuments honoring Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch director-general of New Netherland. A member of the Dutch Reformed Church, he refused Lutherans the right to organize a church, and forbade them from worshipping at home. He was openly anti-Semitic, referring to Jews as a “repugnant race,” and he ordered the public torture of Robert Hodgson, a 23-yearold Quaker convert who had become an influential preacher. He then issued an ordinance against anyone found guilty of harboring Quakers. This religious bigot does not deserve statues, or to have buildings, including an elite high school, named after him.

Eva Kloot

Eve of destruction

Warwick, R.I.: Currently there is an agenda to oppose segments of American history that are deemed offensive. The goal is to remove or deface any objects that relate to our flag, our national anthem, memorial statues, and certain places of worship. What’s next, the Fourth of July?!

Bob Sweeney