Readers Write: Recent unrest, Trump and the Republican National Convention, butterflies

The letter "This isn't working" from Aug. 28 is deliberately misleading and inflammatory. First, the writer accuses the Minneapolis police of killing "countless" Black people as the reason for lost trust in the community. Then she decries the use of force to combat looters and arsonists in an already violent situation. What other plan does she suggest?

This recent incident was the result of "protesters" deciding to commit felonies based on nothing more than a rumor, and the writer is inclined to give this group a pass. The "trust" issue is a red herring — it doesn't absolve anyone from first determining if there's a legitimate issue, especially if your planned response is a felony.

If she wants the change she's demanding in society, every citizen owes us that simple consideration.

Also, peaceful protesters need to accept responsibility that their events are providing cover for the "bad guys," and they need to start accounting for how they deal with this in their planned events. I can't set up a bunch of kegs and music for a private party in a public place but take no responsibility to manage that party. I need to anticipate the trouble my party could potentially create and have a plan to handle it. Same applies here. And if peaceful protesters don't do it, their message and calls for change will continue to be diluted and slowed by the violence.

"Stunned Mpls. picks up pieces" (front page, Aug. 28): Yes, we are stunned, but not surprised. And we are angry.

Another Black man dies and people immediately assume he was shot by police. Why? Because of past experience. Remember, initial police statements said George Floyd died from a "medical incident." Thankfully Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo understood this dynamic and immediately contacted Black leaders to show video evidence and try to diffuse the situation.

"Rumor fueled by lost trust" — you think? Where are elected leaders and what are they doing to restore trust? We have an ill-thought-out plan from the City Council to dramatically restructure peacekeeping. We have the mayor and the chief tinkering around the edges to "reform" the police. We have Black leaders suing the city because their neighbors are being shot. We have increased tension throughout the city.

Here's what needs to happen: All of you get off your high horses and work together to envision real change. Engage the entire community. Select a trusted leader, such as former state Supreme Court Justice Alan Page. Pull together BIPOC leaders and activists from throughout the city, the police chief, mental health professionals, social workers, the business community and experts in system and organizational change. Start an orderly, public, transparent process to design a new system. Report regularly on your progress. Be bold. Search around the world for models that work. Most of all, you need to pull everyone together to begin to build trust. The community needs to feel heard. Stop the bickering and begin leading. Now.

This is what I call twisted logic. The rioters who are looting stores, setting fires and damaging property are not responsible for their behavior. The police, on the other hand, are responsible because they have not earned the rioters' trust. Yeah, right.

Only a Republican president is capable of decrying violence, division and mistrust of government as it's happening during his own administration, and say he has nothing to do with it. Well, beam me up, Scotty! It sounds like late summer of 2004 where we were told that even though the same party got us into an ill-advised war, they were asking voters to trust them to get us out of it. Well, that didn't happen either. Can you imagine if the 180,000 (and counting) coronavirus deaths in this country happened during the first Obama term? He would never have gotten a chance to run for a second one, let alone ask anyone to trust him. The hypocrisy of the Trump party is astounding.

The person who currently holds the office of president of the United States hosts a campaign/re-election event at the White House with flags flying and lawn signs evident ("Critics call RNC staging at the White House illegal," Aug. 28). The secretary of state presents a campaign speech from a foreign country while on government business. Why is this treated as normal? Why is there no outcry about the inappropriateness of campaigning from government positions? Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows is wrong — people outside the beltway do care about this misuse of office. I am outraged, angry, disturbed, infuriated, distressed and distraught that no one in power seems to object to this behavior. There is a tremendous advantage to being able to host campaign rallies at the White House, from an official government position. Is it even legal? This activity requires me, as a taxpayer, to support President Donald Trump's campaign, to which I am vehemently opposed.

We federal employees recently received the seasonal e-mail reminding us to adhere to the Hatch Act in and around our workplace. The lengthy directive even included specific limitation on parking one's own personal vehicle in the office parking lot, saying, "Up to two partisan political bumper stickers would not violate the Hatch Act. ... Employees may not display other partisan political material, or even bumper stickers, in such a way that makes the vehicle appear to be a campaign mobile."

But Meadows assures us that "nobody outside of the Beltway really cares" that the president is using the White House lawn for a partisan political rally. Good to know that if I stood on my vehicle in the office parking lot and held a political rally, nobody here in Minnesota would care. As long as my vehicle didn't have more than two political bumper stickers, of course.

The GOP convention ended Thursday with Trump accepting the nomination.

Just to make sure that everyone knows how little he and apparently our country is held in esteem, the Star Tribune chose to run three commentaries in that day's paper. The headlines say it all: "Trump's Republicans aren't just racists. They're shameless liars," "We live in a racist nation and Kenosha proves it," and "Guilfoyle and others aren't ignorant about Puerto Rico" with the subhead including, "Republicans didn't forget — they're simply racists."

I will just say that sticks and stones may break my bones, but once everyone who doesn't agree with the left is called racist it makes that term a joke. Your blanket condemnation of Republicans makes me even more determined to vote for the GOP policies as outlined during this convention.

I'm not an entomologist, scientist or even a particularly observant person. But I like monarch butterflies, and I have lamented their relative absence the last five or so years to anyone who will listen. So it is with great joy this summer to see so many more monarchs near my home — dozens rather than one or two. And when I ventured Up North to my hometown, they were everywhere. I have no idea if it because of the increased milkweed and pollinator gardens, reduction of some pollutant, some other factor, or my own hallucinations. Whatever the explanation, I'll take it as a sign that things aren't all bad.

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