Readers Write: Bird-watching, Cuba’s woes, racial justice in policing

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

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I read Jim Williams’ final column this weekend in the Minnesota Star Tribune and wanted to let him know how much I will miss his articles (“Watching birds is good therapy,” Oct. 26). I began reading them over 20 years ago on a recommendation from my dad, a friend of his, and fellow avid birder. His stories helped me understand my dad’s passion a bit more (what he hoped for, I believe) and made me feel closer to him (an added bonus). I am Kathy Granquist, and Mike Mulligan was my father. He passed away one year ago this month, and I still miss him every day.

Williams’ last column particularly struck me, as my dad, like him, was once obsessed with bird lists — keeping them, talking about them, writing about them and sometimes seemingly living for them. His bird trips took him around the world, and those adventures were some of the greatest of his life. There was always another trip to take and another “lifer” to check off a list.

In his last years though, with his memory failing and his world growing smaller, my dad’s love of birds changed from one of chasing the rarest to simply being in awe of the beauty of the most common. He too became “content to stare out the window at common birds doing everyday things.” And he spent many hours doing just that.

In 2017 Williams wrote about my father in one of his columns as he was planning a trip that he “hoped would bring his Central America bird list to 1,100.″ There are a lot of impressive numbers cited in that article regarding how many times he had visited various countries (Costa Rica, 36; Panama, 10; Guatemala, 8; etc.) and the number of species sighted in each (Mexico, 901; Honduras, 380; Guatemala 482; etc.) but it is the last sentence of that story, where Williams quoted my dad, that has always stayed with me:

“‘I enjoy immensely the actual trip,’ he said. ‘Even the occasional lousy bed or poor food doesn’t disturb me. (Hell, it’s a different country!) It’s simply not possible for me to watch a magnificent quetzal — or even a green heron — without feeling a kind of happiness, a completeness.

“‘I am a lucky person,’ Mike said.”

I get a sense from reading Williams’ columns for more than two decades now, and especially his final one, that he too considers himself a lucky person. So thank you again, Jim (and Minneapolis Star Tribune), for providing me with so many years of birding stories and adventures that gave me a window into the mind of a birder and always made me feel closer to my dad. I wish you the best and with your lists now aside, I hope those handfuls of birds you are viewing from your window or soft patch of grass continue to “easily move the rest of the world aside” for you.

Kathy Granquist, Eagan

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One of the columns I most looked forward to reading was Jim Williams’ “On the Wing” in the Star Tribune. I always enjoyed birds but never took the time to really appreciate them. I had just retired and moved near a nature preserve right before the pandemic. We put up a bird feeder and enjoyed watching the great variety of birds that would gather there. Our granddaughter, a kindergartner, was home-schooling with us at the time and supposed to be doing her lesson when she suddenly ran to the window and shouted, “It’s a rose-breasted grosbeak! I saw one on Curious George!” Who knew?! That summer my husband thought the bird feeder should come down “because birds have plenty of food then.” I couldn’t argue with that. But after taking it down and seeing a confused-looking cardinal cruise toward the spot where the feeder had been gave me serious pause. I watched as a few more birds flew in and then out again. I lingered by the window and noticed how dead and empty it looked on our deck. I never realized how much the continuous activity and chirping of birds had become so integrated into our lives. It was a challenging time, and watching and hearing these signs of life all around us, oblivious to all the bad news, brought a sense of hope and even joy! It was then I realized the birds didn’t need us. We needed them! That bird feeder was back up in a matter of minutes. And it hasn’t been down since.

I have learned what Williams wrote about in his last column, that “Watching birds is good therapy.” Jim was also someone I could write to with pictures of birds, commentary and questions. He always wrote back. I feel like I’ll be losing a friend and will miss his column. Now he will have even more time to enjoy his passion for birds. Thank you for sharing it with us!

Martha Wade, Bloomington

The combination of Hurricane Oscar and a nationwide power outage resulted in rare coverage of Cuba in the Star Tribune (“Blacked-out Cuba hit by Hurricane Oscar,” Oct. 22). However, as is common with the treatment of the Caribbean island, the story was not fully adequate. The Tribune should be credited with pointing out that the Cuban government blamed the longstanding U.S. embargo/blockade but the article then quickly pivoted to reciting the U.S. government rejection of that claim. As a longtime scholar of Cuba and U.S.-Cuban relations, I can state without hesitation that U.S. policy of placing Cuba on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list (SSOT) has directly impacted Cuba’s efforts to upgrade its electrical system and purchase enough fuel in the international marketplace to keep the lights on for the Cuban population. The Biden administration entered office pledging to return U.S. policy to the pragmatic cooperation of the Obama/Biden era following the tightening of the blockade by the Trump administration but up until now has maintained the Trump policies and contributed to a humanitarian crisis on the island and heightened emigration by Cubans to the United States. Now is the opportune moment for the administration to do the right thing and offer Cuba assistance to deal with the damage of the Hurricane Oscar and the restoration of its electrical grid and to remove Cuba from the SSOT.

Gary Prevost, Minneapolis

The writer is a professor emeritus of political science and Latin American studies at the College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University.

Sunday’s commentary from Tiffani Daniels and Yohuru Williams on the waning momentum behind the racial justice movement is unfortunately spot-on, although there are glimmers of hope to be found (“Minnesota, we must do better,” Strib Voices, Oct. 27).

Just this past July, we saw Minneapolis push through a new police contract that will grant police officers substantially higher pay — a 21% salary increase — without the adoption of much-needed reforms.

Mpls for a Better Police Contract (MFBPC), a watchdog group, proposed 22 recommendations for the new contract, including measures to reduce officer workloads and stress, evaluate and monitor officer’s mental health and send nonpolice responders to nonemergency 911 calls.

These MDBPC policy proposals gained traction and led to increased scrutiny of the city’s police contract despite the ultimate exclusion of many of the suggested reforms. Ultimately, four City Council members voted against the contract’s adoption — a testament to shifting tides.

This saga comes on the heels of 2023, a particularly deadly year for police killings. According to Campaign Zero, a police reform advocacy group, 1,329 people were killed by law enforcement officers in America in 2023, with Black people 2.8 times more likely to be killed by police than their white counterparts.

Despite significant obstacles, Minneapolis and Minnesota must continue to push for racial justice and for more responsible policing. Although Minneapolis squandered a chance to address core issues with policing this year, the city will get another shot in 2025, when the police contract will be up for renewal once again.

Brian Wagenaar, Eden Prairie