Jury of Our Peers?
I appreciate your courage to write this (“A Jury of Our Peers?” Sep. 22) since none of the local papers in St. Paul or Wisconsin has addressed this issue of racism. Yet, they clearly depict Chai Soua Vang as Hmong.
The sad thing is when my family plans an outing, we agree to not sway from the group. They’re afraid of similar situations like Chai Vang.
Mee Vang
Via e-mail
I agree with this completely. It amazes me that liberal Democrats cannot understand it. Chai and his mother have spoken far more sensibly about this incident than the white Christians in Sawyer County have. It is sad they feel what happened is like a hurricane brought unfairly to them by a crazy Asian.
David Marshak
Via e-mail
I lived in Wisconsin from 1992-93. In this retail store, two elderly white couples were pushing a shopping cart ready to run my sister and me over just because we’re Hmong. Also, I remember elderly whites sticking up their middle fingers at us if we’re seen outside.
If the white hunters asked firmly for Chai Vang to leave and never come back, none of shootings would have happened.
Chandy [last name withheld]
Via e-mail
Promote De-escalation
It’s a misconception (“Letters to the Editor,” Sep. 15) that the August 11 Dublin police killings of two Koreans is a call to require all officers to learn the countless languages spoken particularly in the Bay Area.
But because the policy and training of officers is not one that promotes de-escalation and the officers have the “right” to use deadly force, it behooves everyone that the officers learn to be aware of language and cultural discrepancies and sensitivity as well as the issues of drug/alcohol use and mental illness.
Elizabeth Suk
Via e-mail
Able and CAAEN
The adeptness at keeping affinity groups (“CAAEN Builds Network,” Sep. 22) thriving may be something a committee would like to document as a plan for other affinity groups. Such a “how-to” book would heighten the visibility of their success, which could be offered as a modestly priced e-book that could fund the groups’ expenses.
It is inspiring to see so many ways the power of small groups, loosely affiliated, can be supportive for and with each other.
Karen Anderson
Author, SmartPartnering
Via e-mail
Japan’s Racism
The Japanese misinterpreted an American conditional surrender offer as a sign of Allied weakness . The use of the atomic bombs weren’t as Ron Takaki simplistically asserts (“Sixty Years Ago,” Aug. 4) – primitive need for revenge and President Truman’s racist attitudes.
The Japanese believed their atrocities were permissible because they were a culturally more divine people –– dogma as pseudoscientific as Nazi Germany’s “Aryanism.”
Rolando B. Rufo
Alameda, Calif.
CORRECTIONIn “Madison Nguyen Sworn in as First VietAm Councilwoman” (Sep. 22), Madison Nguyen is the first elected councilwoman of San Jose. Janet Nguyen, elected 2004 in Garden Grove, Calif., is the first Vietnamese American woman to serve on a city council in the nation.