Letters to the editor
Don’t be so quick to judge deaths by police officers
Talk about sensationalizing (“Police have killed 110 people in the Bay Area since 2015. An outsized percentage have been black,” Page A1, June 28).
Since 2015, 110 people were killed by police in the Bay Area. Eighty-seven were armed or had a toy resembling a gun. What should police do when facing armed suspects, possibly in the process of committing crimes? But let’s focus on the 20 unarmed individuals.
Eight were Black, which seems to be all the focus lately. Again, that’s over five years, so 1.6 unarmed Blacks killed per year.
Obviously no unarmed person should be killed, but this is not the epidemic it is made out to be. What is always overlooked is that police often have to make split-second decisions, in the heat of the moment, and awful mistakes sometimes occur. Something may look like a weapon but isn’t — e.g., a phone.
Before making it sound like every police encounter ends in the death of unarmed Black people, we would all do well to consider this.
— Joseph Gumina,
San Carlos
Where are apologies for ‘snake oil’ claims?
For weeks, I saw a parade of experts on the TV news and in this newspaper expound on their opinions that hydroxychloroquine showed no benefits and would even harm COVID-19 patients.
Now, a peer-reviewed study has been published by Henry Ford Health System showing that it can reduce mortality rates by half with no adverse coronary effects. I have yet to see any of these experts apologizing, or walking back their earlier statements.
Just imagine, we could have saved 60,000 American lives if the news media wasn’t trying to convince the public that Trump was just peddling “snake oil.”
— David Timmons, San Jose
Arguments against tax initiative fall flat
Re: “Costly split-roll initiative won’t deliver the promised revenues” (Opinion section, June 28):
The authors are against the Schools and Communities First initiative on the fall ballot on the grounds that it would be a challenge for assessors to implement. They argue that reassessing nonresidential property every three years would require funds to compensate for assessors’ expenses and that it would be an administrative headache — “impossible,” they say.
The first concern is clearly moot, since the measure provides $1 billion to cover assessors’ expenses and new hires. And, their worry that such reassessments would be “impossible” is perplexing, if not disingenuous, since assessors in every other state manage to do it.
The benefits of requiring large enterprises like Disney — which currently pay property taxes based on their 1970s’ value — to help provide revenue for education and community services that are now in such dire need far outweigh the usual administrative challenges of any important reform.
— Kitty Calavita, Berkeley
TikTok teens’ ‘dishonesty’ in Tulsa likely saved lives
Letter-writer Lois Berry bemoans the “dishonesty” of the TikTok teens’ effort to reduce attendance at Donald Trump’s rally by reserving seats and not showing up (“TikTok teens’ Tulsa action lacks integrity, honesty,” Letter to the editor, June 28). However, who teaches dishonesty better than a president who has told upward of 20,000 provable lies in less than four years?
Instead, those teens should be lauded for their lifesaving efforts. Trump tells his fans to show up for indoor rallies without masks, and encourages them to stand shoulder to shoulder and generously share their COVID-19. Seeing spaces in the crowd meant that many lives were saved that day by creating social distancing.
I’m glad to see that some teens are clever enough to take lifesaving actions through technology and not endanger themselves in the process.
— Theresa Rieve,
San Jose