No need to privatize USPS
Your article “Some UPS packages sent through Oakland hub see significant delays” ( June 20) offers a telling glimpse into what is likely to occur if the nation’s postal service is privatized.
Increased package volume and expanded routes have stretched UPS drivers, resulting in significant delays. My neighbor paid for twoday UPS delivery and nearly a week later, still has not received her order as the delivery dates are everchanging.
Conversely, packages sent via USPS arrive promptly as the U.S. Postal Service has both the fleet and workforce to manage even the most obscure, rural routes. For that reason alone, Congress should bolster its support of USPS and actively resist attempts to privatize it, which would not only be foolhardy, but end in failure.
Dee Hunt, Martinez
Justice system’s failures
Regarding “Once again, we will wait and see” (Insight, June 21): Keith Carson writes an excellent article on how our land has been drenched by institutional racism. He asks, “Will the outrage turn to action against institutionalized racism?” I suggest the question should be: Why does the status quo publicly refuse to admit that systemic racism and the egregious inequalities in our criminal justice system is one of the biggest failures of our 244yearold experiment in selfgovernance? Such questions must be part of the national debate surrounding the 2020 election.
Lou Horwitz, St. Peters, Mo.
A lack of access for students
Regarding “No internet leads to a big learning loss” ( June 21): Thank you for bringing attention to the fact that many students in San Francisco did not have access to virtual learning this spring due to lack of internet access. I worry that the 20202021 school year will be a repeat of the same, which will disproportionately affect black and Latinx students.
San Francisco Unified School District is doing nothing for the coming school year to ensure that this situation does not repeat itself. And what are city/state governments doing to get school districts the funding that they desperately need to close the achievement gap? How are our elected officials actively working to build up black and Latinx communities and not just paying lip services by saying “Black Lives Matter”?
Robin Tolochko, San Francisco
Switch statues with public art
Regarding “Nominations to replace Columbus statue pour in” ( June 21): In response to Phil Matier and others who are seeking to find replacement persons to honor in statuary, I would like to suggest another alternative — public art.
Because we cannot know what future generations will think about today’s honored persons, it is helpful to remember that yesterday’s choices of “heroes” to honor were likely believed to be good ideas at the time they were erected. Why not replace statues with art installations instead?
Tourists flock to Millenium Park in Chicago to see Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate (“The Bean”), and Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture has been replicated in many locations since its original Indianapolis installation in 1970. Art can be controversial, but it may not be as polarizing as our statuary has become.
Dianne Hendricks, Corte Madera
No rush to reopen
After reading “Virus hospitalizations hit record high in state” ( June 22), about the number of people hospitalized in California with confirmed cases of COVID19 having reached its highest point this past Saturday since the onset of the pandemic, I have this question for Gov. Gavin Newsom: Why are most California counties now receiving approval to move into Stage 3 of reopening our state’s economy, where services like indoor dining, fitness centers and hotels will surely involve more asymptomatic people coming into contact with each other? Forgive me if I disagree with Dr. Bob Wachter, head of UCSF’s Department of Medicine, who characterized this reopening decision as being “generally thoughtful.”
Fiona MacPherson, San Jose
Objective look at racism
Regarding “An overdue reckoning on Confederate icons” ( John Diaz, Insight, June 21): I respectfully disagree with John Diaz giving a pass to former Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson for owning slaves. Although we have revered these forefathers for their roles in our early history, we have too often blindly ignored their faults.
How can we reconcile their soaring words in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution without noting that these words did not apply to all men (or women, mind you) being created equal when the Constitution counted slaves as worth a fraction of their white slave owners?
If we are going to reckon with our blinders to our nation’s history, that reckoning should include examining the hypocrisy and lies promulgated by all our leaders, not just those who joined the South in seceding.
Thus, I have no problem with focusing on the feet of clay of our founding fathers, removing the adulating statues to them, or renaming streets, cities or even states honoring them. If we can’t take an objective look at how racism has pervaded our country since its founding, how will we ever measure up to the lofty words our forefathers wrote but did not follow?
James Edwards, San Francisco
Bolton’s book is out too late
Concerning “The elephant in ‘The Room’ ” (Editorial, June 22): Given that former national security adviser John Bolton obstinately refused to testify before Congress during impeachment hearings about his knowledge of President Trump’s alleged conditioning of aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on political rival Joe Biden; and given that the president has repeatedly had childish rages over any disclosures of his words and deeds by members (past or present) of his administration, a better title for Bolton’s toolatetomatter best seller might have been, “The Romper Room Where It Happened.”
Jeremy Davidoff, Novato