Readers Write: DEI, Democrats' message, Gulf of Mexico

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

The far right, MAGA folks and President Donald Trump have said much about diversity, equity and inclusion, including that it is “evil” (see Florida state Rep. Alex Andrade’s Facebook post on Oct. 13, 2024). Can someone please tell me what is “evil” about the following?

My son, Ben, grew up in Minneapolis, is a former college swimmer, and currently a coach at the M3 Aquatics Swim Club in Chicago. Swimming is historically a very white and expensive sport, with club fees and travel expenses in the thousands annually. In response to this, USA Swimming (the organization that governs all competitive swimming in the U.S.) in Colorado Springs, Colo., initiated a program to encourage, assist and enable people of color and lower-income families to participate in the sport.

In 2022, Ben was presented the national award for outstanding work in DEI by USA Swimming. He received the award for 1) raising funds for scholarships that allow low-income families to participate, 2) conducting free “Learn How Not to Drown” swim lessons on the beaches of Lake Michigan for South Side children (according to the American Red Cross, African American children ages 5 to 19 drown in swimming pools at rates 5.5 times higher than those of Caucasian children in the same age range), and 3) requiring his Swim Club athletes to complete community service projects on Chicago’s South Side.

Ben has accomplished much in swimming, including earning a Division I college scholarship. My pride in his DEI work surpasses all.

Craig Pearthree, Minneapolis

Minnesota Star Tribune contributing columnist Andy Brehm excoriates the Democratic Party for their unchanging policy positions as if they were abstract notions that are philosophically out of step with the mainstream (“It’s the Democrats' message that is the problem,” Strib Voices, Feb. 11). These issues don’t exist in a vacuum. Despite Brehm’s take on popular opinion, ethically sound principles remain ethical, even if public sentiment favors easier solutions. Quite opposite of his article title, it is the messaging from the far right that should be scrutinized.

It’s been said “Whoever controls the media controls the mind.” A good portion of the electorate has been subjected to relentless and massive disinformation efforts, across media platforms, backed by billionaires and foreign adversaries. The narrative they’ve been sold has been shaped by an agenda that is gratuitously inhumane and utterly antithetical to American interests and principles. Anyone remember being told immigrants were eating pets, or that schools were somehow performing sex changes during the school day? Should Democratic leadership fall in line with tilting at windmills?

Brehm also lauds Trump’s efforts to cut wasteful spending. Much of the cuts so far undermine departments tasked with checking the power of the presidency and upholding the rule of law. USAID funding, according to budget analysts, returns more than it costs, but because it’s invested overseas we’re told it’s a waste. We’ll see about curbing wasteful spending when it comes time to talk about tax breaks for the 0.01%. Brehm should spend his ink lamenting the GOP’s complete abandonment of its ethics and conservative principles.

Bob Worrall, Roseville

•••

The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) is out of touch with the voters that are identified in its name: farmers and laborers. These constituencies propelled the Democratic Party from a minority voting bloc in the 1920s to dominance through the end of the century.

Hubert H. Humphrey was the leader in bringing Farmer-Laborites and Democrats together to form the DFL in 1944. Humphrey then pursued an agenda in the U.S. Senate that was laser-focused on working people in the factory, at the building site and on the land. His passion for supporting farmers even extended beyond Minnesota. He was often and affectionately introduced as Wisconsin’s third senator by folks across the border for his efforts on behalf of the dairy industry.

Today, DFLers don’t do so well at the polls with these constituencies. It has been well documented that the rural and farm vote went to Trump. And a historically large defection to Trump occurred with the skilled craft workers of the building trades.

Why would workers vote for Trump, who has openly opposed collective bargaining? Why would farmers vote for tariffs and policies that are doing harm as this is written?

DFL messaging has ignored them and the 60% of Americans cited in the Quinnipiac poll Brehm refers to. The DFL must recommit to the issues relevant to most of us. Jobs, health care, education and public safety. Get back to these issues or face a bleak future without farmers or laborers.

Dan Gunderson, Minneapolis

The writer is a retired lobbyist and political campaign consultant.

•••

In response to Brehm’s Feb. 11 column, I’m sending a rare letter (I’ve been a subscriber for over 40 years but have only sent a few letters). I disagree that it is the Democrats' message that is the problem. Instead, it was mainly Trump’s willingness to say whatever was needed regarding inflation to barely win a few swing states. For example, he promised to lower inflation on Day One but instead the opposite has happened with his tariffs, etc. I’m a fiscal conservative who used to vote for common-sense Republicans such as Arne Carlson and Jim Ramstad. As such, I’m in favor of (as are most Democrats I know) reducing federal spending. But we are “apoplectic” because an unelected billionaire is cutting spending illegally and with no analysis (and with the desire to cut taxes for rich people/corporations at the expense of the poor). Brehm also does not list key Democratic messages (freedom of choice, climate change and sensible gun control) that most Americans do agree with.

Scott Grinde, Plymouth

•••

May I be the one to remind columnist Brehm that it was candidate Trump who intimidated Republican senators and congressmen into backing away from a bipartisan plan to revise the entire immigration program? All for the purpose of keeping immigration as an election issue.

Jo Zimmermann, Forest Lake

While I still have my First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, I wanted to write this letter. I read the article “White House bars AP reporter over ‘Gulf of America’ policy” (Feb. 12) and to say I was dismayed is an understatement. If you missed it, Associated Press journalists were blocked from an event in the Oval Office at the White House after the AP declined to alter its style on the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America. We rely on a free press to inform us of what is happening in our state, country and the world. Where will this stop? And where is the outcry from our Congress (both parties) to stand up the president who seems to think he can say it, and make it so?

Patty Schmitz, Minneapolis

•••

An early map of the Western Hemisphere, printed in Paris by Andre Thevet in 1575, clearly indicates the Gulf of Mexico, depicted as “Golfe Mexique” (Burden, 1996). The name has stuck to every map printed since then to the present day for a very good reason: The name unambiguously describes its location, delineating the east coast of Mexico. The Gulf of America? Where is that supposed to be? The name is so vague, it could be anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. Nonsensical.

Daniel Romero, Minneapolis