Monumental mistake
Regarding “State monuments’ protection at risk” (Page One, Aug. 20): Curiously, there is a golf-addict, part-time resident of the White House advocating for the preservation of manmade monuments honoring the Confederacy, but not so much for the preservation of natural, Mother Earth-made monuments. There is something wrong with this picture. Pat Willard, Redwood City
Informed discussion on race
When the “alt-right” targets the real cause of their woes instead of scapegoating people in the same circumstances they’re in or worse, I might develop some sympathy for them.
Wages have been stagnant for years. CEOs are being paid a thousand times more than workers and receiving enormous bonuses in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Capitalism is a system that requires unemployment to keep wages in check. Lower-paid workers don’t want to lose their jobs and become unemployed, so they take whatever they can get. It’s too easy to have a class of unemployed people when you add racism to the mix designating people of color to the ranks of the unemployed and lowpaying jobs.
Like Bob Dylan told us a long time ago, the poor white remains at the caboose of the train cause they’re only a pawn in the game. We’ll never be able to conquer racism in America until we have a fully informed discussion that looks at all aspects of our society. Penny Williams, Patterson
Trump should be a professor
Regarding “Trump as alt-history buff ” (Editorial, Aug. 21): Our president’s tenuous grasp of our nation’s past qualifies him for only one job: professor at Trump University. And he can assign his students his latest book about the subject, “American History: It Ain’t Fake If I Say It Happened.” Vernon Greene, Oakland
Tackle traffic before housing
Regarding “The will and the means to build” (Editorial, Aug. 20): I have read lively discussions on social media about housing development here in San Carlos. Most of the arguments against further development center on traffic, an issue that I didn’t see mentioned in your editorial.
This isn’t just about maintaining a smalltown feel. Parents are concerned about the safety of their children. People think they already spend too much time creeping along Highway 101 or El Camino Real. The usual answer, transit, doesn’t work for everyone, at least in part because our transit systems don’t provide enough coverage. While I agree that we need more housing, it’s a hard sell without a convincing answer to the traffic problem. Mike Kupfer, San Carlos
Protest hate groups with love
Rather than meeting the neo-Nazis and white supremacists with anger and clubs at Crissy Field, we San Franciscans could display our own values — love, tolerance and all-inclusiveness — showing the world who we are. Our rich traditions do not rely on arms and hate but are rooted in the beauty of diversity and togetherness.
Let us give flowers to those who seek to suppress us, let us invite those poor souls to rethink their prejudices, let us respond with kindness and let us use the power of flowers over guns. Let us remember that hate is emboldened by hate but that love is the conquering light. Patrick Presto, San Francisco
Name-change quandary
Regarding “Pelosi falls into Trump’s Confederate statue trap” (Willie Brown, Aug. 20): I got a good chuckle from Willie Brown’s suggestion regarding the Confederate statue quandary that we should “Take down the rider, leave the horse.”
But then I read in my local paper that there is pressure to make the University of Southern California change the name of its mascot horse, Traveler VII, because Robert E. Lee had a horse named Traveler. What next? Maybe Lee had a dog named Fido. Just think of the thousands of dog owners who will have to get new name tags. Douglas Towne, Calistoga
False equivalency of ‘alt-left’
Concerning “Fighting Nazis not enough to justify ‘antifa’ radicals” (Insight, Aug. 20): Given the recent white nationalist and neo-Nazi violence that occurred in Charlottesville, Va., Jonah Goldberg’s “history lesson” about extremism existing on both ends of the political spectrum is ill-timed and ignores our nation’s past. Regardless of how Russian dictator Josef Stalin’s anti-Nazi activities might have enabled his perverse brand of “leftist” communism to arise, the United States’ “antifascists” don’t have the same legacy as “alt-right” white supremacists. Who terrorized communities by burning crosses on lawns? Who firebombed historic black churches and killed innocent young children?
Who lynched African Americans and left them hanging from trees? Our country has a long and ugly history with hate groups like the KKK. The bloodshed they have caused continues to this very day. Goldberg’s column ought to have focused on those facts, rather than on trying to create a false moral equivalency between the “alt-left” and the “alt-right.” Priscilla Massey, San Francisco
Use NASA’s GPS on drones
Regarding “Drones pose emerging worry for pilots” (Page One, Aug. 19): If investigating drone sightings after a report is made is the best available plan, then it’s only a matter of time before one of these toys brings down the real thing. And as bad as it would be for the drone industry — “incalculable,” the lawyer said — imagine how much worse it would be for not only those on board the plane, but for those on the ground in the path of the wreckage.
NASA’s GPS, which can force a drone from the sky when it enters a restricted zone, is the best option and should be implemented posthaste. Michael Haworth, Vallejo