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State should make police
bodycams mandatory
I am writing to urge the state to make body cameras mandatory for every police department in California.
As 2021 comes to a close, not all police departments in California make it mandatory. This must change. California has had its share of police misconduct. Body cameras not only prevent police brutality, they can disprove false accusations against police.
Evidence shows a drop in use of force and misconduct with body cameras. Please take time to consider this.
Noah Mocettini
Livermore
Planning can make safer
roads for micro-mobility
Upon reading yet another news item of a “bicyclist killed in collision …” (“San Jose: Bicyclist killed in collision on Bascom Avenue,” Nov. 29), the city planner major inside me couldn’t resist the urge of scrutinizing the location on Google Maps. My Swiss nationality tends to provide me with a hard bias toward cities that take advantage of their natural predispositions and against those who don’t.
What could be more convincing for Bay Area city planners than a yearlong smiling sun, breathtaking views and being next to the No. 1 global hub for micro-mobility startups?
Indeed, one way of seizing what the Bay Area has to offer is by hopping on the prodigious micro-mobility trend that is happening in our backyard with barely any coverage made on the matter. I suggest considering a future where cars don’t get bigger, but bodies get healthier, bike lanes safer and where smiles count over miles.
Cyril Estier
Berkeley
Toy guns as gifts
teach poor lessons
When selecting Christmas presents for their young children, many parents will be tempted to buy toy guns. I urge them to reconsider this choice.
A gun is made for one purpose — to kill. Toy guns are made for play-killing.
Giving a child a toy gun reinforces a host of negative concepts — that killing is fun, that death is only temporary, that “might makes right,” and that compromise and cooperation are for wimps.
Responsible parents should seriously question whether playing with toy guns is beneficial to their child’s development. Guns are not playthings.
Burt Bogardus
Danville
Story shows research
key to defeating diabetes
I was delighted to see the New York Times article included in the Nov. 28 paper regarding the advances in the treatment of Type 1 diabetes (“Type 1 diabetes cure? It seems to have worked for 1 man,” Page A10, Nov. 28).
Maybe there is a cure on the horizon and hope for those suffering with this disease. In 1945, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I was 6 years old and now I am 82 years old.
I’ve been waiting a long time for this successful accomplishment. Thank you, Vertex, for your stem cell research. Diabetes is a national health problem affecting our whole population. Research is the answer.
Allen Hester
Concord
Despite shooting verdict
jury trial still most fair
On the Nov. 20 front page there is a photo of protesters in Oakland with raised fists, holding signs, upset about the Rittenhouse verdict (“Rittenhouse found not guilty,” Page A1, Nov. 20).
While I also disagreed with the not-guilty verdict, I’m curious as to who or what they were protesting. This wasn’t a decision by corrupt politicians, police, a judge or any government official. It was a decision by 12 citizens in Kenosha, people like you and me. Apparently, the defense managed to convince them that he acted in self-defense, perhaps aided by him breaking down on the stand.
The jury system isn’t perfect. Guilty people sometimes get off and innocent people sometimes get convicted. Still, the concept of being judged by a jury of your peers is the fairest system.
Meade Fischer
Soquel
Kenosha verdict shows
the value of Whiteness
Re. “Rittenhouse found not guilty,” Page A1, Nov. 20:
The American justice system has always upheld White supremacy and continues to do so. A prime example of this is the Kyle Rittenhouse case. Rittenhouse, an 18-year-old White male who killed two people last year at a peaceful protest, was recently acquitted on all charges. He was found not guilty by a jury of eleven White people and one Black person. Now if Rittenhouse were Black, he likely would have never made it inside the courtroom to stand trial.
The system is designed for people like Rittenhouse to walk free, while Black people are killed by cops for playing with a toy gun, for sleeping, for breathing, for being Black. Our criminal legal system was historically created to protect whiteness and oppress Black individuals.
Guadalupe Aldama
San Jose
Source: www.mercurynews.com