Readers Write: Education, the humanities, Minneapolis mayoral race, Temple Israel vandalism

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

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Anil B. Hurkadli makes clear that President Donald Trump is hurting education (“Getting schools ‘back to basics’ is more complicated than it sounds,” Strib Voices, Oct. 10). Maybe even more important, he reinforces the fact that Trump’s signature action is wrecking things — that’s what Trump does.

As Hurkadli perfectly puts it, Trump uses a “slapdash approach” that doesn’t offer anything as a “substitute to replace what was destroyed.” Trump fired 90% of educational research-and-development staffers. Trump gutted public broadcasting. He butchered USAID. He silenced the Voice of America. He told parents it was OK not to get their kids vaccinated against diseases that could make them miserable or kill them. He wants to kill Obamacare — and he has nothing to replace it. His here-today-gone-tomorrow tariffs wreck the soybean market for U.S. farmers and his solution is to bail them out — by taxing us all.

And that’s in addition to Trump’s incompetent, mean-spirited Defense, Justice and Homeland Security departments. And diplomatic appointments like Herschel Walker — yup, Herschel Walker, now representing the nation.

Trump’s spokesperson Karoline Leavitt recently said a Big Pharma leader, thanks to Trump, had promised to cut drug prices by 200 or 300%. That’s a mathematical impossibility — you can’t cut the price by more than the price. That’s typical of what we get from Trump: nonsense, nothing believable to say about how he’ll replace what he’s wrecked.

Failure to resist Trump’s dangerous, foolish nonsense will doom this nation.

I had a quick thought while reading the counterpoint “Minnesota humanities graduates thrive in meaningful careers” (Strib Voices, Oct. 13). Currently, colleges offer widely varying costs to different students based on a wide range of factors (academic and athletic achievement, personal background, etc.). If it is known that people who major in the humanities will make less money than those who major in STEM subjects, perhaps the cost of attaining a humanities degree should be less. Surely, the cost of granting humanities degrees is less than many STEM majors.

But of course a humanities degree has priceless life benefits. I have one and would agree with this. None of these benefits allow me to earn more money than my friends with STEM degrees. If you want people to have these degrees for the betterment of society, than make it possible financially. More and more young people are not choosing college because they have family members who were sold a story about dreams and college degrees and are left with nothing but nightmares and debt. Put your money where your mouth is. Make the price of the degree match its economic worth.

Mary Voigt, St. Paul

Congratulations to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights on the two employment discrimination settlements announced for a female and male victim (“Firms must pay up for bias,” Oct. 10).

But the MDHR is itself one of the biggest sources of discrimination in our K-12 schools! Why? The MDHR insists that school districts not discipline Black or Native American student offenders if such students are a higher percentage of discipline cases than they represent in the student population.

This is wrong, unfair and a violation of the discrimination laws. It’s the opposite of “equal justice under law.” But, under the MDHR’s twisted logic, discipline must be imposed by racial quota, not equally to all based on the offense. The MDHR has bragged about this policy at public meetings and has threatened school districts with discrimination charges if they don’t comply.

So temper your congratulations to the MDHR because they are the source of a great deal of discrimination themselves. And, that’s before even considering its role in forcing schools to put boys in girls’ sports.

Douglas P. Seaton, Edina

The writer is an attorney.

The contrast between Mayor Jacob Frey’s refusal to acknowledge that Israel is committing a genocide and state Sen. Omar Fateh’s unwavering support of the international BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) movement cuts to heart of the major disagreement in Minneapolis politics today (“How the Israel-Hamas war became an issue in the Minneapolis mayoral race,” Oct. 13).

On the other side, a senator and a broad coalition of volunteers and local organizations who recognize injustice and set themselves to the hard work of correcting it. As the effort to enact fair wages for rideshare drivers showed us, organizing with workers and community to overcome corporate power is a longer, harder fight than quickly caving to lobbyist pressure. But these fights — for the dignity of unhoused neighbors, for worker’s rights, for an end to genocide and apartheid — can be won.

Especially with political repression at the federal level, the mayor’s approach might be seductive. But ignoring problems lets them fester. The Minneapolis City Council’s so-called “one-sided” ceasefire resolution has essentially become the position of the United Nations, which in September determined that Israel has been committing genocide. In the meantime, the city’s administration has continued to contract with Israeli surveillance firm Zencity, and 2 million Palestinians have been subjected to famine. Our next mayor should be someone who sees problems to solve rather than messes to sweep under the rug.

Doug Carmody, Minneapolis

We, the Downtown Interfaith Clergy, are a multifaith coalition of clergy representing more than 35,000 Minnesotans from congregations across the city of Minneapolis.

Today, we write to condemn in the strongest possible terms the antisemitic hate speech spray-painted on the walls of Temple Israel last week (“Mpls. ups patrols at places of worship after temple vandalism,” Oct. 10). These threats against our Jewish siblings, neighbors and friends are unacceptable. They run contrary to the teachings of our diverse faith traditions. And they have the dangerous potential of inciting further violence.

We encourage members of our congregations, the people of the Twin Cities and our regional neighbors to join us not only in condemning this particular act of hate speech but also in learning about, humanizing and extending care to our Jewish neighbors, friends and family.

For us and for our congregations, interfaith learning, support and collaboration have strengthened our lives of faith, emboldened our pursuits for common good and expanded our capacities for compassion. While we, in these interfaith relationships, do not always agree on matters of theology or politics, we do always agree that we are each and all made in the image of God, have inherent dignity and worth and deserve the opportunity to live and flourish in freedom without fear.

We believe, even now, that it is possible for people of different faiths and political commitments to join together in creating a society and a world that is characterized not by mutual destruction but by mutual blessing.

Today, we bless, in particular, our Jewish neighbors, friends and family and invite you to join us.

The Rev. Jessica R. Patchett, Minneapolis