A monument for indigenous people
Regarding “Columbus knocked off of his pedestal” ( June 19): Now that Christopher Columbus has been taken from his pedestal in San Francisco, a debate has begun about who or what to put in his place. An obvious possibility would be a statue of an Ohlone Indian, in honor of all the indigenous peoples who suffered so much as a result of Columbus’ arrival. Native Americans were enslaved, massacred, downed by European diseases, culturally suppressed and removed from their homelands, started immediately by Columbus himself and continuing across the continents with the waves of European conquest. Ohlones and other Native Americans today are still fighting for their human rights along with other minority groups. Just as there is a movement to rename Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, let us now honor those people who tended this beautiful land for thousands of years before Columbus.
Leanne Hinton, Berkeley
Voice of Trump
Anyone who supports our First Amendment rights to free speech and a free press should be outraged by the news story “Controversial Trump picks take over VOA” ( June 19). The decision of Michael Pack, new chief of U.S.funded international broadcasting, to fire the heads of at least three outlets he oversees and replace their boards with allies to the president is a blow to the independence of U.S. news broadcasters and journalists. The U.S. Agency for Global Media’s Voice of America might as well go by a new propagandistic acronym: V.O.T. (Voice of Trump).
Jason ParkRyu, Pleasanton
Glad for removal
Regarding “Facebook: Trump ad had Nazi symbol” (Daily Briefing, Business, June 19): Thank goodness this social media giant has decided to remove a
President Trump campaign ad that featured an upsidedown red triangle, a symbol once used by Nazis to designate political prisoners, communists and others in concentration camps. And anyone who believes this campaign’s claim that the inverted red triangle was included in an ad about antifa because it is a symbol used by antifa also believes that a political rally for this divisive president, first scheduled for June 19 (or Juneteenth, the day of slavery emancipation) in Tulsa, Okla., site of a race riot in 1921 known as the Black Wall Street Massacre, was merely a coincidence.
Hazel Underwood, Milpitas
Wear a face mask
I’m an over 60yearold individual with multiple health issues who is at high risk of contracting COVID19, and I am glad to read “State edict mandates wearing of masks” (Page 1, June 19). As our economy reopens, I’ve noticed more adults not socialdistancing or wearing masks. Consequently, there is a spike in coronavirus cases. My message to younger people is this: You’re not invincible and can contract this illness or pass it on to others if you don’t take the necessary precautions when you’re out in public. So please follow the order issued by the California Department of Public Health to wear a face mask when you cannot safely distance yourself from other people. It’s the right thing to do.
Josephine DiCostanza, Burlingame
Everyone must help
As a member of the atrisk population, I applaud Gov. Gavin Newsom’s attempt to get people to wear face masks amid the rise in COVID19 cases. I do not understand the fierce reluctance of people to protect each other.
If we were being bombed in a wartime situation, would you demand to continue smoking, thus alerting planes with your embers, because you felt that your personal rights were more important? This is such a small ask to decrease the infection numbers afflicting our state. This pandemic will only go away with effort on all of our parts. Be a citizen.
Charlie Goldberg, San Francisco
Risk of changing names
Regarding “Honor Jesse Jackson” (Letters, June 18) and “Rename Fort Bragg after famous deaf actor” (Letters, June 18): There were two letters suggesting that Fort Bragg and Jackson Street retain their names but honor other people, which is a fine thought. However, this is a white supremacist’s dream, as it opens the door for all Confederate idols to be newly christened with some person of the same name who would placate those who want to change or remove them. San Franciscans should think this through before giving this idea more publicity.
Valerie Stone, Martinez
Prosecute the police
Regarding “No need for reform” (Letters, June 18): The author doubts some of the proposed reforms of police activity: “Change to police forces should come from within,” he says. The change that is most needed must come from outside the police forces: The district attorney should prosecute every provable case of police crime he comes across.
I am not talking about murder and maiming: I am talking about false arrest, false imprisonment and general bullying. When that starts, bent cops will find themselves in prison long before they traverse the downward path to murder. We must ask ourselves why the district attorney does not prosecute bent cops as a matter of course. I know two answers, each with a fairly simple and quite inexpensive legislative solution. Reform of the police should start with reform of the prosecutors’ offices.
John Wills, Oakland