Allowing a hunt for tundra swans (and, by error, protected trumpeter swans) is an incredibly bad idea ("Swans in hunters' sights again," Nov. 5). These gorgeous, largest migratory birds narrowly escaped becoming extinct only through the concentrated efforts of many people who deeply cared about them. We value visiting swan migratory viewing areas in late fall to be able to observe these magnificent birds. Labeling this hunt a tribal hunting tradition is not a valid reason to allow these birds to be randomly slaughtered. We hopefully have progressed to a much more humanitarian way of thinking about all life that shares this Earth.
Some outdated traditions should remain history. These magnificent water birds are certainly not needed as food, nor for their beautiful feathers to be used as clothing adornment for pageantry. We feel old traditions would be the most honored by protecting the swans from this hunt.
Sharon and Bruce Perkins, Woodbury
DIVERSITY, DISPARITIES
American Indians get insufficient attention
Recent articles on Minnesota's growing diversity and continuing racial disparities have overlooked our American Indian population, as though they don't exist or don't experience debilitating disparities. The Nov. 7 editorial page blatantly displayed this type of oversight. Right next to a long, thoughtful and detailed editorial on Minnesota's growing diversity and disparities ("As diversity grows, disparities persist") was the featured letter to the editor giving Chi Miigwetch (big thank you) for the support of the "No Honor In Racism" rally to end portrayal of indigenous peoples as mascots and logos. The main editorial cited statistics on growth and disparities affecting African-Americans, African immigrants, Latinos and Asians, but made no reference to Minnesota's American Indian population.
Our indigenous population is growing and also experiences some of the worst disparities on health, education, housing and income indicators. It is this type of oversight that continues to overlook American Indians as people living in Minnesota today and reduces them to stereotypes from the past.
Patti Hague, Minneapolis
TEACHERS
Commentary writer simply nailed it
I cried at breakfast Friday morning. Greta Callahan's eloquent rebuttal ("Walk a mile in my teaching shoes," Nov. 7) to the Star Tribune's simplistic Sunday headline ("Worst teachers in poorest schools," Nov. 2) swept me out of my quiet kitchen where I begin my retirement days and back to the furious days when I was a special-education teacher at Powderhorn School, one of Minneapolis's poorest schools. I could have written the same article 25 years ago.
Marc Burgett, Minneapolis
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I am a minister at a church that provides housing for a week for homeless families twice yearly. We do this as part of the Families Moving Forward program, as many churches do. I noticed that many of the kids who came to our church with their families could be unruly and hard to control some of the time. Often they were good kids who were enjoyable to be around and wanted to cooperate, after a bit of opposition. They were just unsettled and were acting out because their lives were out of control, just as Callahan said. Some of our program's volunteers were even successful teachers, but not in the type of school in which Callahan works. They found it exasperating to handle some of the kids in our program some of the time.
I was moved by Callahan's courageous and well-written commentary. I challenge all these so-called "outstanding teachers" in the "highly successful schools" referred to in the Nov. 2 article to take a few years off and teach at Greta's school or schools like hers. Then see if they remain evaluated as "successful" as they previously were — or if they suddenly get lumped into the "poor teacher" group, because of the nature of the school they would then be working in.
