BLACK SCHOLAR'S ARREST
Details showed that police acted properly
I have to disagree with President Obama in the statement that the Cambridge, Mass., police "acted stupidly" when arresting Henry Louis Gates Jr. Obama is the one "acting stupidly" by making comments on something that is not related to his position, especially since he admitted not knowing the details of the incident.
I can only hope that if the police investigate a break-in at my home, that the police would ask for ID, and arrest the person if he refuses to show ID and then becomes confrontational. And if that person happens to be me, I deserve everything I get.
JOE KUCALA, MEDINA
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In addition to sympathizing with Harvard Prof. Henry Gates for being challenged, patronized and arrested in his own home, there's another reason we might cut him some slack.
Gates had just returned after a trans-oceanic flight from halfway around the world. A jet-lagged world traveler needs privacy, space and time to recover equanimity, not unmerited humiliation by an authority figure.
KATHRYN CHRISTENSON
ST. PETER, MINN.
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The Fraternal Order of Police and a letter writer protest too much (Star Tribune, July 24). Reacting to President Obama's comments reveals that they don't have the common sense to keep quiet about police behavior toward people of color that has been well documented all over the country for years.
By calling attention to the arrest of Prof. Gates, the president puts the issue of institutional racism on the front burner and the cops are getting burned. Obviously this issue is complicated. Black men get stopped on freeways, on the street, and in their homes. Some are shot down. Many crime victims and perpetrators are also black. Scared neighbors call police because they don't recognize the person, just the skin color. Leadership should be challenging these deadly stereotypes instead of crying about justified criticism.
GEORGE HUTCHINSON, MINNEAPOLIS
SOTOMAYOR HEARINGS
Franken's questioning relevant and appropriate
Did a July 18 letter writer hear the entirety of Sen. Al Franken's questioning during the Sotomayor hearings?
Those of us who followed the hearings recall Franken asking Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about topics ranging from the protection of voting rights to judicial activism. The Perry Mason reference didn't originate with Franken; it came from Sotomayor's response to Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Franken's comment came at the end of a long and tedious hearing -- a warm diversion enjoyed by senators and guests alike. And the episode -- which included Sen. Patrick Leahy asking Franken whether he knew the answer to his own question -- was brief: just over a minute.
Sure, I can understand feeling a bit pouty about not having Sen. Norm Coleman reelected. But how many other Judiciary Committee members made references that missed the mark of relevance? Sen. Jeff Sessions' continued remarks about Miguel Estrada come to mind. And what about the grandstanding committed by certain senators on both sides?
The writer's implicit point of holding elected officials to a high standard of comportment is valid. But however tempting it may be for us to react from partisan bias, Franken ought to be judged by standards no less than any other member of Congress.
ANDREW MENDEZ, WHITE BEAR LAKE
calling for delay
Durenberger does health care industry's bidding
Dave Durenberger's July 21 column shows he is as eloquent in writing as he is silver-tongued in person. However, his call for more delay in passing health care legislation is more of the same old, same old.
Let's stop now so we can crank up the opposition and kill it -- which is of course what the people who pay him desperately want. It's unfortunate that someone with the intelligence of the former senator works for the giants of the health care industry rather the people, especially the almost 50 million citizens with no insurance support. It's very sad, indeed.
MILLER FRIESEN, EAGAN
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What came to mind after watching the president's prime-time news conference on health care reform is that his advisers really blew it. They should have hired Richard Gere's "CHICAGO" dance coach to teach the president the fancy footwork to accompany his "GIVE 'EM THE OLD RAZZLE DAZZLE."
MARY L. BOUDREAU, APPLE VALLEY
Death with Dignity
It may not be about controlling the exit
I respectfully take issue with John Crisp's "Death with dignity" piece (Opinion Exchange, July 22). My family called me home to Minneapolis last spring to tell me that our mother would be passing on soon..
We had time, seven glorious days around the clock, to tell mom how much we love her and how she had made our lives so wonderful. Mom told us she "is going to miss us so much." I told her there is no such thing as "time" in heaven, and that while we would all be with her in the blink of an eye, she would still be here with us too -- when we felt the kindness of a warm smile, or heard love in the laughter of a child. Not knowing the exact moment she would be taken from us and entering into her new life opened a lot of doors for those who were around her.
If you are exercising control of when you are leaving this life, perhaps you would not have the magnificent and dignified experiences we encountered ... such as when mom said so peacefully and calmly, while warmly smiling and with the utmost of certainty just before passing on: "Jesus is watching." And I know He was.
KRISTEN WOMACK, WICHITA, KAN.
