Readers Write: Diversity, Jan. 6 pardons, housing, DAFs

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

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Ron Way says that Christians often use the bible to justify viewpoints that are racist, anti-LGBTQ, anti-mixed marriage, antisemitic, anti-immigrant, misogynistic, dismissive of the poor and against teaching racial history (“The golden rule, so widely taught, has woeful traction,” Strib Voices, Jan. 26). I know a lot of Christians and I don’t share his opinion.

He uses President Donald Trump’s executive orders as an example of someone using Christianity to justify a hateful viewpoint. But he doesn’t explain how the executive orders constitute hatred for the groups he names.

Way evidently believes that having a different opinion from his progressive viewpoint constitutes hatred. For example, if you are against illegal immigration, you must be racist. If you are against biological males competing against biological females, you are anti-trans. If you are against teaching critical race theory, you are against teaching the true history of race relations in the U.S.

The views that he considers hateful aren’t Christian views, they are conservative views. Conservatives don’t hate minorities, trans people, mixed marriages or any of the other things that he claims they do. Conservatives do prefer different policies than those preferred by progressives. People should be able to have different policy preferences without being labeled haters.

James Brandt, New Brighton

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Just read the Jan. 26 editorial “If you liked DEI before, stick with it” and I wanted to say bravo for having the courage to speak truth and uphold Minnesota values. Thank you.

Amy Willette, St. Peter, Minn.

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If you missed this, it’s on page A5 of the Sunday, Jan. 26 issue of the Minnesota Star Tribune. Under Nation & World is a piece titled “Air Force scraps Tuskegee pilot training course.” To disparage the men and women (Women Airforce Service Pilots) that risked their lives to support our American forces in World War II is a disgrace. It falls under the president’s obsession with obliterating diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s a perfect example of Trump’s acting without thinking — shooting from the hip. Talk about petty.

Lynn Bollman, Minneapolis

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As reported in the Star Tribune on Monday, Jan. 27 (“Chill falls on federal workers in Minn.”), although civil service workers currently are hired based on merit and cannot be arbitrarily fired, Trump has issued an executive order regarding Schedule F, empowering the administration to strip job protections from many career federal employees. Possibly, employees who are not sufficiently loyal to Trump and his desires may now be fired, regardless of their merit. Conversely, Trump has demanded that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs be abolished, because employment should be based solely on merit. So which is it, Trump, loyalty or merit? You can’t have it both ways.

Bill Kaemmerer, Minneapolis

Regarding the Jan. 26 commentary “Pardons of Jan. 6 rioters are a slap in the face to those who serve,” authored by Minneapolis Chief of Police Brian O’Hara, why doesn’t the Police Officers Federation on Minneapolis take a stand on what happened on that day as well? Why don’t they take a stand on the pardons handed down by Trump? Whether it is the issue of too many guns in too many hands or the criminal acts committed on Jan. 6, 2021, the federation is silent.

I presume this is due to law enforcement running conservative and Republican. Nevertheless, grievous harm was done to our democracy on Jan. 6, and harm (gun violence), occurs daily in our homes, on the streets and in communities across the nation with barely a condemnation from the federation. This is unacceptable and unconscionable! The job of a police officer demands that freedom from harm supersedes freedoms that harm!

Sherral Schmidt, Minneapolis police sergeant and president of the Police Officers Federation, what say you?

Sharon E. Carlson, Andover

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My heartfelt thanks and utmost respect goes to Minneapolis Police Chief O’Hara for his willingness to speak out against the despicable pardons given to the Jan. 6 rioters. I also commend the Minnesota Star Tribune for publishing his opinion. At a time when most people understand the challenging and often criticized job of our law enforcement officers and the difficulty of getting qualified people to fill those roles, they need to be supported by all of us, but especially by those in power — namely the president of the United States. Trump has undermined law enforcement, the courts and the safety of citizens who entrusted him to honor the Constitution and protect us.

Barbara Sowden, Brooklyn Park

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Thank you to O’Hara, Minneapolis police chief, for sharing his thoughts about the broad pardon of the Jan. 6 rioters who were found guilty after thorough investigations from the U.S. Department of Justice. He spoke truth to power, that power being held now by a convicted felon.

Christine Chambers, Shoreview

Of interest in the Star Tribune’s Sunday issue is the article “Seeking growth, cities confront zoning hurdles.”

The unquestioned departure point is that growth is desirable. The other common assumption is that higher density, smaller lots and different housing types are the obvious fix. The outcomes as experienced in places like Flagstaff, Ariz. and Eugene, Ore. are mixed.

More revenue for cities (property taxes) yet more demands for services. More to exploit for current owners with lots being split and sold, resulting in more cramped spaces, more concrete, more traffic, cars parked everywhere, less foliage and fewer places for families to garden and fewer places for children to play.

Indeed cities will pay experts to “grow” our towns and cities with congestion. In Bellingham, Wash., that has driven prices through the proverbial roof. Indeed the cancer model of economic growth has turned the American dream against the working class who now are increasingly trapped in decades of renting from more fortunate, prior generations and those who inherit. The lower economic strata will pay more for less. A useful template for the well off.

Here’s a thought: Implement policies to stop growing and improve incomes.

I fear if we don’t we’ll have capitalism’s shining city on a hill surrounded by enormous slums as seen in many congested areas of the world.

Thomas Evans, Bemidji

I want to respond to Evan Ramstad’s article on donor-advised funds (DAFs) in the Jan. 26 issue (“With DAFs, donors benefit while beneficiaries wait”). As a DAF holder for 20 years and a past board chair of the Minneapolis Foundation, I am not unfamiliar with his arguments. It is a nonprofit-centered view that “Hey, it’s our money and they’re sitting on it because all these fat cats just want a tax deduction.” Let me give you the donors’ view. We want to give back while we can and we want to set aside significant funds for that purpose in the longer term if we can. Our charitable causes will change over time, as will the accountability and viability of the nonprofit community. We want flexibility and options. Setting aside funds is an important commitment to our future philanthropy. And the fees we pay to manage our funds, in my case to a community foundation, go to support staff and operations that are active in our communities and not to Wall Street bankers. The DAF is a donor-centric vehicle and not a nonprofit entitlement. I can honestly say that my wife and I have donated more dollars to nonprofits over 20 years with the DAF than we would have without it. The tax break was nice, but not why we did it.

Norm Rickeman, Woodland