No boundaries to Trump’s prejudice
The depth of Trump’s prejudice and social blindness was revealed twice last week. First, when a questioner stated that President Obama was a Muslim and not born in this country, Trump failed to call him on these falsehoods. And when Trump was tasked on that failure, he said he was not required to “defend” the president. His reply essentially assumed that, regardless of accuracy, stating that someone is Muslim is an insult or attack. Even worse, he doesn’t seem to realize that. Sadly, most reporters don’t seem to either.
Miriam Mueller, San Francisco
Saint injustice
Thanks for the articles “Junipero Serra left mark in ways that weren’t all saintly, many say” (Sept. 20) and “Junipero Serra — soon to become just another saint” (Insight, Sept. 20) on the unfortunate sainting of Junipero Serra by Pope Francis this week. Both the cover story and the Insight story pointed out how imperfect this man was, how he was responsible for the suffering and deaths of thousands of native people during the mission period and the loss of their culture, their communities and the innocence of their abused children. To call him a saint is the height of intellectual dishonesty and spreads misinformation about history. I add my voice to that of most American Indians who oppose this move by the church, yet another injustice to add to the heap.
Stephanie Manning, Berkeley
Inmate skills
Regarding “S.F. jail inmates train as farmers of future” (Sept. 16): Kudos to Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi for initiating programs in the San Francisco jails that teach skills to inmates. The aquaponics course for inmates is only one of many programs he has introduced at the jail in an effort to teach those caught up in the criminal justice system something valuable. It presumes that they are human beings, that they should be treated as such, and it indicates a belief that people can be rehabilitated and turn their lives around. Some folks just need a hand up. I applaud Sheriff Mirkarimi for holding his out to them.
Sherry Gendelman, San Francisco
Effective unions
Regarding “The great grape strike” (Insight, Sept. 20): It was truly eyeopening to read about the efforts of Filipino and Mexican farmworkers, beginning in 1965, to engage in a fiveyear strike in order to achieve higher wages. Fifty years ago, more than onethird of U.S. workers belonged to a labor union. Today, that statistic is less than 10 percent. As UC Berkeley professor and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has often pointed out, the precipitous decline in our country’s labor union membership has resulted in decades of wage stagnation and a widening gap between CEO and worker compensation. Today, we also have a GOP presidential candidate, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who boasts about having ended the right of his state’s public workers to engage in collective bargaining. The 1965 California grape strike is a potent reminder of how workers, when they organize with effective leadership, can achieve higher wages and better working conditions. The key to increasing membership in labor unions in the future is by remembering their effectiveness in the past.
Julian Grant, Pacifica
Feinstein’s policy
The tragedy of the Kate Steinle story is that it should have never happened. Mayor Dianne Feinstein initiated the sanctuary city policy to protect illegal immigrants from deportation if they reported crimes or went to the hospital. Instead of deporting these immigrants and following the law as she was sworn to do, she puts in place a policy that, through the passage of time, has unintended consequences. It has encouraged illegal immigrants, law-abiding and criminal, to come to San Francisco. Feinstein, as is the liberal mind set, wants to be judged on her good intentions. However, she should be looking in the mirror and judge her act of initiating this policy and its consequences.
Philip La Scola, Livermore
Poor choices
Regarding “Keep your eyes on the race: Fiorina’s prepared to fight” (Insight, Sept. 20): I find it interesting when people who have had no experience in government whatsoever want to jump in and be president of the U.S. I agree with Debra J. Saunders that Carly Fiorina has proven she has the teeth to run and the in-your-face chops, but when the president is dealing with foreign policy, for instance, in-your-face is not going to cut it. And no matter how Saunders presents it, when a CEO lays off 30,000 American workers and sends the work overseas, the American people just do not like this. They don’t like it when male CEOs do this and, for some reason, they like it even less when female CEOs do this. Trump or Fiorina as President? Please!
Margaret Stortz, El Cerrito