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High-speed rail is
too far along to stop
Ending the process of building California’s bullet train wouldn’t be the best idea.
This is because 1) voters were promised a transportation system from Southern California to San Francisco and Sacramento, and 2), construction is already in progress, with billions of dollars already put into the system. Completely scrapping the project would just upset the voters, and with all the money that has been spent, it would be a complete waste of money, building material and labor.
Instead of completely scrapping the project, California could look into countries where bullet trains have been developed and start talking to contractors there. Bringing in contractors that have experience with the bullet train might be the best option to get the project done quicker and more efficiently.
Gary Lam
Stockton
Justice for immigrant
families can’t be bought
Re. “Immigrant payouts bad idea for nation,” Page A8, Nov. 5:
A human being is neither an alien or illegal. The only illegality committed was the policy set in motion during Trump’s administration of forcibly separating 5,500 children from their parents at the U.S./Mexico border in order to “punish immigrants.”
Whether it’s “a dime” or $450,000, nothing can compensate these families for what will surely be their children’s lifelong effects from the PTSD caused by their separation.
These are people who are fleeing persecution, brutality and imminent death from their country of origin. How fortunate for you and me that we’ve never had to experience such horrors.
Since you don’t wish to embrace the stranger, at least try walking in their shoes. Joan Baez’s salient lyrics remind us, “There but for fortune go you or I.”
Sharon Brown
Walnut Creek
Family’s mix-up proof
officials doing their jobs
Re. “Mixed-race family flying from San Jose stopped,” Page B11, Nov. 5:
This article cited a mother and her mixed-race daughter being stopped by an airline representative and the police because of human-trafficking suspicions. This upsetting incident could certainly have been put in an entirely different light for the daughter, who, according to her mother, is “sad and annoyed” and going to “need therapy.”
If the mother had handled the incident as “Thank god that people are paying attention to their training,” instead of playing the victim, her daughter could be feeling safer and better protected because there are responsible people who care enough to act.
Human trafficking is a real problem, and mom and daughter could have had a conversation about the reality of it and could have been grateful that this was not their case, but had it been, the outcome of keeping her daughter safe would have been celebrated.
Meredith McCay
Rodeo
Defense of Atlanta team
name, chop must stop
It is outrageous when Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred claims that changing the nickname of the Atlanta baseball team and fans performing the “tomahawk chop” is a local issue.
It shows that Manfred is indifferent toward American Indians because he does not realize how harmful both the nickname and the chop are to them. It made them less than human.
I urge Commissioner Manfred to stop defending both the nickname and the chop.
Billy Trice Jr.
Oakland
CRT distortions meant
to quiet people of color
A few days ago, I was reading an article about some schools trying to ban “Critical Race Theory” and I realized that a lot of people are misinformed on what CRT actually is.
This is due to the bias of media companies. For example, Fox News put out articles that highlight how CRT is “infiltrating” our K-12 schools. CRT is a theory of law that states that race is a social construct and that the legal systems in the United States hold down non-White people. This theory is not being introduced into K-12 schools. Too many bills are being passed banning something that is not even happening.
This takes away attention from important issues, and it dilutes what CRT really is. People will dismiss CRT as a crazy theory that teaches hate, rather than a legal analysis of the U.S. legal system. We should be listening to the voices of people of color, not dismissing them.
Jason McKinley
Danville
Left was quiet when
Trump was insulted
I am truly amused by the outrage of the left over the phrase “Let’s go, Brandon.”
If liberals are so offended by this simple phrase, what would they do if someone showed a picture of a severed head of President Biden? Or if, for example, a celebrity on a national award show actually used the expletive to insult our president?
Past insults do not justify current insults. However, if you’re guilty of prior insults, you have no moral justification for outrage for the current.
Dennis Lowe
El Dorado Hills
Source: www.mercurynews.com