Letters to the editor for Aug. 19

Save the USPS

The Trump administration is deliberately sabotaging the United States Postal Service as we approach an election in which vote by mail will be of incredible importance. By appointing an individual who is acting to damage the service by instructing staff to delay mail, the current head of USPS is undermining public confidence in this vital service with the clear intention of preparing the service for privatization at the same time as making the legitimacy of the upcoming election more easy to challenge.

Denny Heck, Maria Cantwell, and Patty Murray need to do everything within their power to investigate the actions of Louis DeJoy and to ensure that USPS is protected.

Katherine Walton-Elliott, Olympia

Are fireworks illegal or not?

I hope next Independence Day we can resume organized fireworks displays even if we have to mask up to attend. They’re just one of many things that make the Fourth of July so special. Hopefully, it will also decrease the number of clucks who illegally set off fireworks at all hours in our neighborhoods. I’m not sure what they get out of loud bangs and bright flashes (and howling dogs), but it is an annoyance to most of us. Above all, it is illegal. I was taken aback when the police announced that they would not respond to fireworks complaints because of the high number. If the law isn’t enforced violations will always be at a high number. Duh! Granted, illegal discharge of fireworks isn’t the crime of the century and there are higher priorities to respond to, but the law is the law and, by definition, law enforcement gets paid to enforce the law. Personal fireworks will continue to be available as long as the “sovereign nations” peddle them, but citations and fines will lower the number of inconsiderate violators. Meanwhile, I hope there isn’t a dramatic rise in home invasions so the police can refuse to respond if somebody kicks in my door.

Ron Waitman, Lacey

Racism is like riding a bike

Listen up white America. This message is for all of us (because people of color already know this stuff). Racism in America is like riding a bicycle in a gentle fifteen mile-per-hour breeze. If you’re riding with that wind at your back, you don’t know it’s there. You literally can’t feel it. But that steady breeze is always helping to propel you along – more than you can possibly appreciate.

However if you are forced to ride your bike INTO that 15-mph wind, you definitely feel it. There’s no denying it. You have to struggle every day to make headway against it. And then you have to listen to clueless white folks suggest that maybe you should just pedal a little harder.

It’s simple to deny racism if you’re white. If you can’t see it and you don’t feel it, it’s too easy to argue that it doesn’t exist. That needs to change.

So now do we all understand what “structural racism” is? It’s the wind. What can white folks do to abolish structural racism? First step: Wake up and check out which way the wind is blowing. Simple as that. And then get busy turning things around.

Dan Pens, Olympia

Aren’t you ashamed ...

To be a Republican? In particular, a Republican politician? If I were less a coward, and less cherishing of the few years I have left on this mortal Earth, I’d attend Republican political rallies, and ask the speakers that question. Unfortunately, in these years of free speech only if you’re saying what I want to hear to support my ingrained beliefs, I’d get bludgeoned by some supporter while the speaker shouted, “Throw him out!”

Maybe a lot of Republican candidates are, in fact, ashamed to admit it. Note how many are running as independents.

Bernard Brady, Tumwater