American history, warts and all

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Brooklyn: I’m a Vietnam veteran. I served from June 1, 1967 to May 28, 1968. Nearly every day, we read about anti-war protesters at home burning American flags to show their opposition to the war. It made us feel terrible. As it turned out, the Vietnam War was what I call a “wart” of American history. We have had many warts in our 400-plus-year history, starting with the introduction of slavery at Jamestown in 1619. But tearing down monuments isn’t going to change that. Those men in stone and bronze might have been warts, but they nevertheless did wondrous deeds. When human beings age, they get gnarled hands and skin, and possibly warts. We don’t knock these old folks down because they don’t look as good as they did twenty years ago. They are part of our family, our history. Teach new generations how to improve our country. Use the statues to explain what should not be done.

The Vietnam War should never have happened, but we served dutifully and proudly. It doesn’t mean we should burn the flag and topple the statues. Carmine Lengua

Essential statues

Brooklyn: With this all this consuming talk about statues, there’s one group entirely neglected. How about a statue in recognition to our tireless EMS workers? These guardian angels are grossly underappreciated. The few times I had to call 911 for a medical emergency, I was amazed at their compassion, professionalism and concern. They go above and beyond, and are examples of true humanity.

Perry Greenberg

Pandemic president

Brooklyn: What is more important: concentrating on the fight over monuments, or dealing with the coronavirus that is still spreading? I wish our president would act responsibly and admit he made a mistake. Instead, he has made it worse by holding unsafe rallies. As a result, several of his staff members, as well as Secret Service agents, have come down with the virus. He believes that talking about monuments will distract from his miserable record in dealing with the pandemic. I cannot believe that any prior president would have been so irresponsible.

Flagellation

Alan Podhaizer

Rockaway Beach: Bubba Wallace on the motorists driving around with a Confederate flag: “It’s the right for peaceful protests,” Wallace told Yahoo Sports. “It’s part of

it. But you won’t see them inside of the racetracks where we’re having a good time with the new fans that have purchased their tickets and purchased their favorite driver’s apparel. You won’t see it flying in there.” Interesting perspective, I wonder how he feels about fans paying money to enter a stadium to watch football and buy jerseys and then see players disrespecting the American flag.

Paul Jablonski

Rewrite

Manhattan: “Defund the police” is an unfortunate choice of words to express how police officers could be better trained. A humble suggestion: Why not adopt the two-word phrase, “rethink policing”?

Language!

Louis Phillips

Mineola, L.I.: School may be out, but the Daily News has given me another example of media bias to show my students. During our unit, we focus on how charged words with certain negative or positive connotations can be used to spin a story. (Think: an 18-year old described as a “teen” in one headline, and a “man” in another.) I’m glad that The News gave Michael Mulgrew some column space to explain how vital the funds attached to the Heroes Act are towards the safe reopening of our schools (“Teachers will return in the fall if…,” op-ed, June 26), but referring to him as a “union boss” (a term with very negative, perhaps even criminal connotations) in the headline, rather than his actual title, UFT president, is just another example of anti-teacher and anti-union slant.

Gary Malone, ELA teacher/

UFT chapter leader

The invisible woman

Copiague, L.I.: Now that we’re in agreement that Black Lives Matter, let’s start on Women’s Lives Matter. In your story “Stage hit ‘Hamilton’ to grace small screen” (June 29) there is a photo of four actors from “Hamilton.” The three men are identified by name. The woman is neither named nor referred to. Not even the courtesy of “unidentified actress.” Throughout history, women have been invisible. Apparently, this is also the case in your editorial process.

Karen Meyer Campbell

Free Hamilton!

Manhattan: If Lin-Manuel Miranda really wanted “everyone” to see “Hamilton,” he would ask Disney to make Disney+ freely available to all. Right now you can only get Disney+ if you subscribe. How about it, Mr. Miranda?

Roberta Horowitz

Love song

New Windsor, N.Y.: To Voicer Lynne Larson: “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” from 1969 is certainly appropriate during these tough times, but let’s not forgot Jackie DeShannon’s other apropos hit, the 1965 Burt Bacharachpenned “What the World Needs Now is Love.”

Todd Schuster

Not becoming V.P.

Prospect, Conn.: I agree with Voicer Muriel Diamond’s suggestion to nominate Michelle Obama for vice president. I just finished reading Ms. Obama’s book “Becoming” and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sadly, at the conclusion, she indicated she has no intention of running for office. She has never been a fan of politics and her past experience has done nothing to change her mind. She would have made positive change, something this country desperately needs.

Joseph Cardinale

Firework fail

Breezy Point: What is this clown of a mayor saying about a new fireworks task force? There has been a task force every year since Rudy Giuliani to reduce the number of people getting injured from fireworks until it was stopped under his administration. It included the NYPD, FDNY and ATF. Thanks for ruining our city, de Blasio!

Pat Campbell

Audit time

East Brunswick, N.J.: So the city needs a bailout, and de Blasio is blaming Trump, when this was caused by his

/HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES own inept leadership. I suggest the mayor ask his wife for the money. Where are the millions she got for her ThriveNYC program?

Ronnie Calem

Grrrr

Tuckahoe, N.Y.: Why run a “Least popular dog breeds” feature? You probably wouldn’t run a “least popular people” column. Dogs are a gift to humanity; we don’t deserve them. In return for unconditional love and undeserved kindness, we put them in disgusting puppy mills and subject them to despicable breeding techniques. Pedigrees are frequently the result of inbreeding or selective breeding, resulting in genetic problems such as epilepsy, spinal problems, heart disease, breathing and skin disorders. Dogs deserve better.

Kiley Blackman

Missing parade

Manhattan: Does anyone remember the big promise that de Blasio made about a parade for all the graduates? So, when is it? Shaine Tabi

Come again?

Brooklyn: Forget about the president getting tested for COVID-19 all the time. They should test his hearing. He didn’t hear the briefing about a bounty put on our troops in Afghanistan? He didn’t hear the guy in The Villages video shout “white power” twice?

Bill Brown