I am a Muslim, and I am made fun of in an open stage. It seems like making fun of Muslims is the fashion these days.
I am a Muslim-American, and I am proud of my heritage and my history. I am sure a day will come when America will apologize to Muslims worldwide. A day will come when we good American Muslims will be recognized as good citizens of this great country.
Until then, I will have to put up with ignorance and bigotry.
Ahmed El-Sherif
Leawood
Plaudits to Monica Bustamante for her gutsy report in Lewis Diuguid’s column “Area Hispanics often live in a divided world” (6/25, Opinion) regarding the remnants of racial prejudice.
Mexican-Americans banished society’s past infractions to secluded recesses of the mind. Unwittingly, the memories surface.
Ms. Bustamante’s recounting of hurtful events reminds me of a 1960s confrontation. At a Catholic school in Argentine, a priest came thundering in to unseat my three young girls from the all-white catechism class and steered us to the door. At that time clergy required respect. I withheld an outburst of expletives. Our community was a reflection of society’s thoughtless supremacy.
Native-born, second-generation Mexican-Americans earned our first-class citizenship with blood, sweat and tears, in war and in peace. Our present generation, empowered with equal employment and educational opportunities, hastily scale to the mountaintop and unlimited success as envisioned by Martin Luther King, heroic leader in the struggle for civil rights and human dignity. Race riots awoke the conscience of a nation. Precious freedoms were unleashed for African-Americans, Mexican-Americans and all minority citizens.
Sadly enough, Hispanic history is rarely documented. Our contributions and storied legacy of strife and survival will fade away like a dust storm in the wind.
Esperanza Amayo
Kansas City, Kan.
I think many are missing the point on the Power & Light District dress code article (6/20, A-1, “A dressing-down over dress code; As complaints mount, council members want answers from Cordish Co., which denies bias”). It’s not whether the entertainment district needs or deserves some special dress regulations.
The Star article revealed a trend of complaints that enforcement of the dress code was being applied unevenly. City Council members and city leaders should dig deeper into the racial allegations and the sheer magnitude of complaints to the city.
Let’s look at the facts and decide whether this dress code is a good thing or a bad thing. How many complaints are there, and how do they compare to other city entertainment venues?
In the meantime, I suppose men young and old can decide to pick up an outfit from a department store or spend their money elsewhere.
Phil Swayne
Kansas City
One of the advertising slogans posted in the Power & Light District reads something like, “Leave your inhibitions in the minivan.” Tee-hee, how exciting and daring it is to come to the inner city!
But what if we encounter a black man wearing a very long necklace and perhaps other ostentatious jewelry? What if he has his hat turned sideways at a 45-degree angle?
Being daring is one thing. Putting ourselves in danger is something else. “But I’m sure they won’t let people like that in here!”
I love Kansas City, but we are so backward, so square and so segregated.
Richard Schapker
Merriam
I am usually diametrically opposed to whatever view Lee Judge is trying to convey in his opinion cartoons. However, to the one of June 26 depicting racism covered in camouflage, I say, right on, bro!
The Power & Light District dress code is discrimination, no ifs ands or buts about it. Don’t pay any attention to what you wear as long as it is clean and you don’t cause any trouble. If you do, out you go.
Michael Douglas
Smithville
The new Power & Light District “Live” area posts signs advising that those under age 21 cannot enter special events and concerts during the evening hours. America regularly sends young men and women aged 18, 19, and 20 into combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, where many have been killed and terribly wounded.
Old enough to go to war but not old enough for the Power & Light District? What kind of idiotic nonsense is this?
Robert A. Eberle
Kansas City
Some stupid things you can do or may have done.
Kansas City and the merchants in the Power & Light District can’t afford to allow political correctness to rule the dress code.
Tom Payne
Edwardsville
Remember how great Bannister Mall was when it first opened? People came from all over the Kansas City area to shop there. People from Omaha, Des Moines, Wichita and Springfield would charter buses to come shop at Bannister Mall.
The demise of this wonderful mall was because there were no dress codes or rules and regulations of any kind. Soon it was no longer safe to shop there. Word soon got around and people stayed away. No more charted buses in the mall parking lot.
This is what will happen to the Power & Light District if the dress codes and other regulations are not enforced.
Pat Cunningham
Kansas City
I was a Barack Obama delegate to the Missouri Democratic Convention, but I wouldn’t take him seriously as a candidate or as a job applicant if he wore baggy pants below his rear end with jewelry and a crooked ball cap on his head.
Congressmen Emanuel Cleaver and Alan Wheat have earned my respect and got my votes, but I’d campaign against them if they showed up in public looking like a stereotypical “gangsta” goofball we see blighting some of our city streets.
Jerks of all races wear “baggies” to conceal weapons and show their gang affiliation. Cordish made the right decision, and our community leaders should do the same.
Will Royster
Kansas City
Is there anyone besides myself who is sick of hearing about the Power & Light District dress code? Bottom line: Don’t wear inappropriate clothing. I, for one, don’t enjoy having to view a grown man’s behind and underwear because his clothes don’t fit properly. Nor do I need to see a woman’s rear end through the massive holes in her pants.
Also, being married to a construction man, I know that work boots and clothing do not smell pleasant. I don’t want to smell them when I don’t have to.
The whole idea behind this area was to create a nice, fun and safe environment to socialize. We are maintaining this by eliminating those who could conceal weapons, and making a conscious effort to ensure that everyone coming to the area is looking for a nice, safe and fun time.
Natasha Cunningham
Kansas City
Having recently gone to the Dr. Hook show at the much-touted Power & Light District, I ran into another rather interesting side effect of the current Cordish Co. dress code. I was turned away by a “security guard” (a 20-something guy who spent most of his time texting on his cell phone) because of my lace-up boots.
I have to ask: Since I was wearing surplus military boots, that must mean Cordish turns away all our men and women in uniform as well, right?
Brandon Whitehead
North Kansas City
Effect of racism on election
Those critical of Lee Judge’s cartoon (6/15, Opinion), which depicts a GOP elephant saying “I hope America’s still racist,” are either missing the point or are in denial. Everyone who votes against Barack Obama doesn’t have to be racist, but there is a percentage who are. When those are added to the others, it could easily prove to be the margin of victory with racists as just a part of the winning coalition.
Anyone believe that there is no racism in America? Just read the article “Triumph sparks trouble” (6/23, A-2), which states that Obama’s victory in the Democratic primaries has also sparked an increase in racist and white supremacist activity.
Bob Hishaw
Kansas City
Hillary’s battle against sexism
Lee Judge’s cartoon (6/17, Opinion) shows surprising ignorance of the sexism with which some responded to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He suggests that all candidates are “treated badly” when running for office (true enough), so it’s just whining for Clinton and her supporters to complain about sexism.
What Judge doesn’t understand is that there’s a difference between general maltreatment and the more pernicious sort of abuse that entrenches stereotypes about what a person can or cannot do based on irrelevant factors like race or gender.
Most people — not all, but most — have refrained from suggesting that Barack Obama can’t be president because of his skin color, but Clinton’s campaign was greeted with slogans like “Life’s a Bitch; Don’t Vote for One.”
A cartoonist in The Star — Judge again — in March depicted Clinton as a “nag.” These are just a few examples, but there are many others.
Some people treated the Clinton campaign respectfully, and some responded with the standard bad treatment. But in other cases, the media and citizen response was undeniably sexist. That’s a fact worth noting.
Beth Sperry
Kansas City
I have seen plenty of trendily yet tastefully dressed young people of all races at the Power & Light District, and have witnessed very few problems. This is not a coincidence. It is all thanks to the enforcement of age and dress codes by the Cordish Co. (6/20, A-1, “A dressing-down over dress code; As complaints mount, council members want answers from Cordish Co., which denies bias”).
Cordish is not trying to keep people of any particular color out, but only making an attempt to keep the bad apples of every background out.
Face it: Bad apples tend to dress poorly. If sloppy and often offensive dress (such as pants falling down and exposing underwear) is considered a vital part of the urban culture, then perhaps the people within that culture need to re-examine what they value. Young whites are not exempt from this new trend in bad taste, either.
With that being said, go ahead and rescind the dress code. I promise that I will write an “I told you so” letter after the first shooting or stabbing that will come soon enough. Perhaps as early as this summer. Then we can all watch downtown go deserted again together.
Dennis M. Whalen
Kansas City
For me the solution is simple: If you don’t like the rules at the Power & Light District, then don’t go. I was impressed by the response from the two young men from Tennessee in The Star’s article who went back to their hotel room to change once they realized they were not in compliance with the dress code. They said, “If they’ve got rules, that’s fine.” Their mother brought them up right.
So, this brings me to my question for everyone who is so upset about the district’s policy. How hard is it to turn your hat around and buy a pair of pants that fits?
Prudence Rexroat
Overland Park
Cordish Co. is to be commended for instituting a dress code that will save the Power & Light District from a fate worse than Bannister Mall.
Ben Nicks
Shawnee
All of the guys complaining about the dress code down at the Power & Light District are simply looking at things too negatively.
Sure, you might have to dress like a square to get in the door, but at least once you’re inside you’ll get to see plenty of women dressed like prostitutes!
Michael Keizer
Independence
I’m considered a Democrat and a Republican, so I receive correspondence from both parties. It might be because I vote for the person, not the party. There is discrimination, but who is being discriminated might surprise you.
I am told that if I’m black I must vote for Barack Obama, or I’m a traitor.
If I’m white I must vote for Obama, or I’m racist.
If I’m old I must vote for youth, because I’m too old to make a decision anymore.
If I’m a woman I am a supporter and follower, not a leader.
If I’m a veteran (I am a disabled vet) of WWII or Korea, my benefits need to be cut because I’ve lived too long.
If I’m retired, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to put a windfall tax on my retirement.
If I’m on Social Security, the fund will run out because the government needs the money for other things.
If I’m rich, I’m not entitled to keep my money because it’s needed to help those who can’t work or choose not to.
If I vote for John McCain, he will die in office because he’s too old.
Who is being discriminated against? I rest my case.
Richard Powelson
Kansas City
According to the media: As a white voter, if I don’t vote for Obama I’m a racist. That is why white people feel we need to explain ourselves.
Thank your local media outlet.
Cliff Logan
Olathe
I read that some Kansas City Council members consider Kansas City Power and Light District’s dress code unfair and possibly racially directed ("A dressing-down over dress code; As complaints mount, council members want answers from Cordish Co., which denies bias," 6/20).
What are they thinking, prohibiting untucked shirts, white T-shirts and long, baggy clothes?
I can’t imagine a night out without seeing other patrons’ pants bunched at their ankles, wondering how they walk that way, or seeing a plethora of plain white T-shirts (some call them undershirts, implying that another shirt would be worn over them.)
Lastly, should I choose to wear a poncho, or a shirt that, untucked, can freely flow over my pants and toward my knees?
Who are they to ask that their patrons should dress any more appropriately?
Brian Mehnert
Olathe
The Cordish dress code sounds a lot like a “brown paper bag test.”
Anne Bethune
Kansas City
My opinion on all this dress code fiasco is this:
Tank tops on men don’t offend me. What’s a little armpit hair?
What offends me is long, dirty hair falling in my food. White T-shirts, gold jewelry, and baggy pants don’t offend me.
We’ve all seen men in three-piece suits and women in designer dresses acting loud, obnoxious and rude.
The person makes the clothes, not the other way around. All these bars and restaurants need is a sign in the window that reads: “Attitude Code: You will be asked to leave if you act like you’ve been raised in a barn. It offends the animals.”
Mary Jo Wheeler
Kansas City
People who oppose group homes and their residents in their neighborhoods and communities represent the same type of narrow-minded bigots who oppose anyone different from them. These are the same kind of individuals who have stood in the way of people from various ethnic and racial backgrounds making progress in society.
The bigotry represented against people with mental, emotional and physical disabilities, living in or moving to a “regular” neighborhood is perhaps the lowest form of uneducated narrow-mindedness and self-centered shameful hearts.
Some folks automatically assume that someone who has special needs or is disabled is somehow a threat to the general public. All of a sudden, without doing any research, they believe these gentle people are criminally insane and will assault the women, steal their food and kidnap their children. Most people with disabilities are no different from you and me. They are good citizens who work, have hopes and dreams and are a joy to be around.
Like so many other bigots, the anti-group home gang hides their prejudice under some silly notion of lowered property values. How absurd.
People can come and build a group home near my house any time they want to build one.
David Shipp
Nevada, Mo.
Kansas City councilman Ed Ford proposes to shift the liability for damages due to court-awarded discrimination to city staffers and volunteers (5/27, Local, “Shift on discrimination cases proposed”). He claims that this is just a coincidence and not directed at Mayor Funkhouser’s wife, Gloria. Who is he kidding?
What is to become of other volunteers? Will they have to assume this new risk to serve on the many city boards and commissions? Recently, the Kansas City school board couldn’t get enough people interested to serving. This proposal could do the same for the city.
Bad move, Mr. Ed. Poor timing for obvious sour grapes. Brush the chips off your shoulders and act like a grownup!
Jim Sweere
Kansas City
Michael Savage, a Jew, needs to look to the horrific way Judiasm has been treated over the centuries and learn from it. His anti-Islam diatribe sounds scarily close to the early Nazi-era attacks on the Jews (5/19, Local, “Religious group protests radio host; The Interfaith Coalition Against Bigotry wants KCMO 710-AM to drop Savage Nation program”). Have we learned nothing from the past?
We must stop these hateful attacks before they have a chance to grow into another Nazi-like attack on innocent people. In today’s tinderbox world, Savage’s hateful rhetoric is much akin to yelling fire in a movie theater. I applaud the Interfaith Coalition Against Bigotry’s stand. I am sorry I wasn’t at the protest Sunday.
We must remember the monument at Dachau concentration camp: “Never again.” Yes, never again for attacks on Jews, Christians, Muslims or any our other brothers and sisters in God’s one creation.
Never again, Mr. Savage. Never again.
Deacon Allen Ohlstein
Director, Episcopal Hunger Relief Network Episcopal Community Services
Kansas City
As a longtime critic of Lewis Diuguid’s pessimistic sociopolitical positions, I must applaud his open-mindedness in reconsidering Bill Cosby’s viewpoint on personal responsibility (5/14, Opinion, “Cosby’s message gains strength in context”).
Bill Cosby has been unjustly maligned for having the audacity to expect everyone to take control of their destiny through responsible decision-making and personal achievement.
I do take exception to Mr. Diuguid’s stereotypical notion that conservatives believe racism and discrimination don’t exist. While there has been marked improvement in our lifetime, discrimination not only exits but knows no bounds in negatively affecting virtually everyone in society, which lends more validity to Mr. Cosby’s reality check relative to the importance of personal responsibility.
Cosby has had the audacity all along to state what has always been known and true: that respect is earned and not given, and therefore is the only realistic path toward defeating discrimination. While the village (government) must continue to eliminate obstructions and obstacles to individual opportunity, we must realize that it cannot effectively legislate equality.
Congratulations, Mr. Diuguid, I think you are finally getting it!
Joe Whiston
Gladstone
California’s recent legalization of same sex marriage (5/16, A-1, “California to allow same-sex marriage”) is a monstrous and ignorant error and an assumption on their part that they have the right to change a definition of marriage that has been accepted by the vast majority of the population of the world: that marriage is the joining of one man and one women in matrimony.
I challenge California to put this question before their voters.
John Gaines
Prairie Village
The fact that the Kansas City Area Development Council “has launched ... a multimedia marketing plan aimed at helping local corporations recruit and retain that coveted 25- to 34-year-old age group” sickens me (4/22, Business, “KC listens to ‘creative class’.”).
Society continues to exalt the young without any regard for the middle-aged, who are in dire need of jobs to support ourselves. I bet I have more talent in my little finger than the “creative class” the KCADC is marketing
I am tired of seeing the focus on young adults when there are so many others whose talents and skills go unrecognized.
I recently toured the set of a soap opera. I told the tour guide that they need to incorporate overweight, unattractive, older actors into their scripts. He replied, “We’re into creating fantasies, and it wouldn’t work.”
I responded, “If you want a real fantasy, have a love story between a fat, ugly, older woman with a handsome, comparably aged, wealthy man.”
Kansas City and the rest of the world need to recognize that those of us with wrinkles should be recruited and retained for all we are and all we know.
Nan Lorenz
Kansas City
By now you are probably aware of wealthy California businessman Ward Connerly, who has brought his assault on civil rights to Missouri in the form of a petition being circulated by a group called the “Missouri Civil Rights Initiative.”
Mr. Connerly and his supporters suggest that affirmative action should be based upon socioeconomic status rather than race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.
However, if ending socioeconomic inequality is the true motivation, the question begs to be asked: Rather than spend gobs of money, time, and energy to banish the efforts of our civil rights leaders — an effort that requires hundreds of volunteers and paid staff, thousands of man hours and many thousands, even millions of dollars — why not use those resources to fight for Missouri’s low-income people who continue to have safety nets such as Medicaid ripped away from them? Does that not seem like a more reasonable way to end socioeconomic inequality?
Joshua Ewing
Policy Coordinator of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare
Jefferson City
The man who asked the woman who was being treated for cancer to remove her hat in a restaurant (4/5, Letters) was not only being intrusive and rude, he was also displaying his ignorance of etiquette. A man’s hat is considered outerwear and as such is inappropriate indoors. A woman’s hat is considered part of her outfit and is not to be removed indoors unless she chooses.
My mother used to say, “You just take care of yourself and that will be a big enough job.” Too bad he didn’t have my mom’s wise counsel.
Lisa Nelson
Overland Park
Andrew Comiskey (4/7 Letters) asks why transgendered individuals should get special protection. He argues that a change in gender is a choice, and that it creates massive amounts of conflict for those around the chooser.
Where have we heard this one before? Oh, right: gays in the military, of course. Or for that matter, gays anywhere.
What Mr. Comiskey entirely overlooks is the fact that it is not someone’s sexual orientation or gender change we are trying to protect. It is the fact that both the gay and the transgendered have been sorely discriminated against by this society for simply being who they are.
Whether or not a person chooses his sex does not give another person the right to discriminate against that person in any way harmful to that person. You don’t like a minority for some reason? Fine, that is your choice. But don’t try to discriminate against that person because of his or her minority label. That is just plain wrong.
Richard L. Strickland
Mission
Why are those who have chosen to change their gender granted the same protective rights accorded to race and gender (4/3, Local, “Transgender bias ban near approval”)?
Though I feel only compassion for those who feel at odds with their gender, I fail to see KC City Council’s logic in grouping them with those who are, say, born black or female.
Race and gender are innate and immutable. On the other hand, gender reassignment is a choice, and a disorienting one for all involved. Not only does the operation involve physical mutilation and massive amounts of opposite-gender hormones, the conflict of feeling trapped by one’s biological gender is often not resolved by the reassignment.
And yet it creates massive amounts of conflict for those around him or her who must adjust to the new gender.
In not thinking through all the issues at hand, the City Council ascribes a special legal status to those who do not warrant them.
Andrew Comiskey
Kansas City
Jim Davis (3/30, Letters) says he, too, remembers some experiences from the 1960s, but differently than my father, Glenn E. Carrender (3/26, Letters).
The things that happened to Mr. Davis were wrong. The historical events he referred to were not examples of the way people should behave in our society. The lingering pain and negative feelings Mr. Davis expressed are understandable, and he has a right to feel them as a person who was wronged.
But based on his experiences and his reaction to them, he should also understand some of the pain and lingering negative feelings felt by African-Americans who lived through the 1960s and were treated as they were and sometimes continue to be.
Both sides have reasons for and a right to their feelings. Each side now needs to recognize that and instead of continuing to react with the same old anger, they should move toward a dialogue that will help to begin healing the continuing racial divide in our country.
Brian E. Carrender
Blue Springs
Danny Drungilas (3/30, Letters) complained that he had been asked by a Plaza restaurant hostess to remove his baseball cap at the table. Also, he was upset that a woman wearing the same style of cap hadn’t been asked to remove hers.
Etiquette expert Miss Manners offers an explanation regarding hats for men and women. She writes that baseball caps are considered men’s hats. Consequently, the rules for removal apply to both genders: during the national anthem, when entering any building, and especially at the table.
The etiquette of a civilized society requires hat removal as a sign of respect for others. It was the right of the hostess to enforce the restaurant’s dress code. Her only error was in not applying it to the woman. However, if the woman had been wearing a charming red felt hat with, say, a dashing feather, she would not have been required to remove it.
A man wearing anything on his head should remove it at the table, regardless of the restaurant. Hat hair isn’t an acceptable excuse. Leaving it on forces others to conclude that he is disrespectful or ill-mannered.
Katie Evans
Lenexa
Men were wearing baseball caps for “style” long before women. The reason most women choose to don a baseball cap is that their hair looks atrocious because they were too lazy to take the time to style it. It is commonly known as “hat hair.”
Asking a man to remove a baseball cap while allowing a woman to wear one is total discrimination, and the restaurant needs to change its rules.
Many years ago a lady friend of mine and I went to a Plaza restaurant to have lunch. I was wearing a tank top, which was fashionable for men at the time. I was told that I couldn’t come into the restaurant with bare shoulders. As I looked around there were numerous females running around in halter tops, which were fashionable for women at that time, with their breasts hanging out. Men’s bare shoulders, unacceptable; women’s breasts showing, acceptable.
Our solution? My friend gave me her jacket, pink-and-white checks, which I could barely squeeze into, but my shoulders were covered. I looked ridiculous but at least I met their dress code.
Roger L. Beard
Prairie Village
Glenn E. Carrender (3/26, Letters) is ashamed of white people’s conduct in the ’60s. I, too, grew up in the ’60s. I remember a few things that Mr. Carrender has forgotten.
I remember being beaten up on my way to school almost every day because I was white, and being told by the principal there was nothing to be done except have my parents walk me or take a different route. We exercised “white flight” and moved.
I remember homes burning and firemen being shot at. I remember places of business being robbed and destroyed and nice communities turned into slums.
I remember the L.A. riots and a man named Reginald Denny. I can still hear the likes of Maxine Waters condoning riots.
I see where certain sports teams can win or lose, and cities burn. A see O.J. Simpson get off and one side rejoices while the other weeps. I see reverse racism in hiring and firing.
Mr. Carrender, I think we all have things to be ashamed about.
Jim Davis
Independence
Recently my wife and I stopped in for lunch at our favorite restaurant on the Plaza. As we were seated the hostess told me I would need to remove my baseball cap. I pointed out a young woman sitting across the aisle from us wearing a similar baseball cap and asked why she could wear hers. She said it was a woman’s “style” to wear a hat.
I haven’t experienced this sort of out-of-date sexist discrimination in decades. Maybe it’s time for us to find another favorite restaurant.
Danny Drungilas
Lawrence
I note that the “Judge’s Opinion” cartoon (3/6) labels Hillary Clinton as the “nag” in the presidential race. I am assuming we are to imagine the double image of the old female horse gaming around the track as well as a grumpy female harpy nagging us with her message points.
This cartoon is quite in line with the syndicated cartoon that you ran on your editorial page last month when Clinton was featured as the wicked witch from Wizard of Oz crying out, “I’m melting!”
One does not have to be a supporter of Hillary Clinton to recognize that you are advancing gender-specific and sexist representations of a woman running for president that literally cannot be applied to any male candidate.
You certainly would not publish categorical slurs that would be stereotypically relevant only to a candidate’s race or ethnicity.
Please hit as hard as you choose on any candidates’ position or character, but it is disgusting to read in a publication of the caliber of The Star slurs about a woman presidential candidate being the “nag” and the villainous wicked witch screeching in death throes. Both are examples of ugly stereotypes reserved to denigrate women only.
Connie Campbell
Kansas City
Thanks to Max, Tanna, Slacker and Traci for years of entertainment (2/29, Local, “Ex-DJs at KY allege age bias; The four, fired in January, file complaints with the EEOC”).
I think the on-air staff of KYYS did a remarkable job of entertaining longtime listeners in spite of its limited playlist, but it still comes down to the music. KYYS built its reputation on edgier rock and alternative, but did not expand its playlist to include the better groups of the 90s through today because that would have competed with its popular sister station KQRC (98.9).
I wish that Entercom had kept the on-air personalities of KYYS and merely expanded the playlist to what it is today. I wish the former on-air staff of KYYS the best and thanks for all the years of entertaining me on my drive time.
Tom Fournier
Kansas City
Now I’m confused. In his recent letter (2/23, “Judge offends police”), Jim Blau resents the remarks of Judge Katherine Emke in which she contended there is racial profiling happening within the law enforcement community. Yet a few paragraphs later, he writes, “I am sure there are some police who display prejudicial bias in law enforcement – it’s not a perfect community”
I’d say that pretty much confirms Judge Emke’s remarks.
She didn’t say “all officers” but she did say it happens, just as Mr. Blau contends.
I’m glad they are in agreement with each other.
Cliff Schiappa
Kansas City
I just read the St. Mary’s Academy administrator’s explanation that the school prevented a female referee from officiating a game because she wasn’t a good role model for the boys (2/21, Local, “Decision on referee defended; The school’s headmaster says the issue was role models for boys, not authority over them”). Does anyone else think that it is ironic that St. Mary’s would think that women don’t make good role models? Maybe they should have thought of that before they named the school after Jesus’ mom.
Thomas Bergin
Leawood
In reference to “Removal of referee has some crying foul” (2/13, A-1), I see an excellent example of religious bullying.
That St. Mary’s Academy’s “policy is to have only men in their sports program for boys” (per their own press release) is their prerogative. As a feminist, I respect their right to make and enforce such policies on their own students/membership (though I do not respect or agree with such a policy).
After reading the Kansas State High School Activities Association mission statement, I fail to understand where St. Mary’s has the right to perpetrate its policy on anyone else, much less the right to deny a paycheck to a KSHSAA-authorized employee. In the past, St. Mary’s has chosen to forfeit, an appropriate response, when confronted with an ethical disagreement.
As with all bullies, I think that an apology, to the referee, KSHSAA, and to all the girls and boys whose schools are members of KSHSAA, is an important first step.
Beverly Hof-Miller
Kansas City
Regarding “State association investigates St. Mary’s referee incident” (2/15, Local): This is an issue of religious freedom. If the matter had been regarding Muslims, there would not have been a “peep.”
Cheryl Maly
Cameron
I think the definitive word on the folderol at St. Mary’s about the female referee (2/13, A-1, “Removal of referee has some crying foul”) came from my daughter. She said, “Michelle Campbell is an adult; the boys aren’t. That should be all the authority she should need.”
Suzanne B. Conaway
Kansas City
It was with dismay that I read the recent story about St. Mary’s Academy refusing to allow a woman to officiate their boys’ basketball game. I was equally dismayed to read some of the online user comments at KansasCity.com, which confused this constitutional issue as one of religious freedom, rather than civil rights.
This is simple. It is not about religion. To attempt to make this an issue of religious freedom offends me as a parent, Christian and Kansas resident. This is about the state not sanctioning discrimination on the basis of gender in a state-sponsored activity.
If St. Mary’s Academy chooses to follow this line of thinking, then they should also be willing stand on their principles and forfeit the game, rather than change the playing field to suit themselves.
This is a ridiculous situation. The Kansas State High Schools Activities Association is indirectly supported with taxpayer dollars through fees from member schools. That compels them to follow the law with regard to gender discrimination.
If, in fact, the situation occurred as it has been reported, this should result in the removal of this school from any further participation in KSHSAA activities.
Sarah Pham
Leawood
As a practicing Catholic who attended Catholic school for 12 years, and a father of two daughters, I was appalled to read about what happened to referee Michelle Campbell.
St. Mary’s Academy (part of the Society of St. Pius X) owes Campbell an apology. The Bible teaches that all people are created equal, regardless of gender.
This school would not allow Campbell to referee the game because it “would put her in a position of authority over boys.” Are you kidding me?
Their actions make me ashamed to say I am a Catholic, though this is a splinter group, of sorts. I bet St. Mary’s would take Campbell’s money on Sundays that she earned working other boys basketball games!
Robert T. Daum II
Overland Park
George Will (2/2, Opinion) suggests government needs to be “cleansed” of race-based policies and supports Ward Connerly — architect of the “Missouri Civil Rights Initiative” — because he “intimately” knows of what he speaks. The words make us cringe.
Governments and countries don’t need to be “cleansed” of anything, and is Connerly’s intimacy so acceptable simply because he is black?
The Anti-Defamation League opposes preferences based on race, gender or ethnicity, quotas, proportional representation, and race as an absolute qualification. We support redress for qualified individuals who are victims of discrimination. Our position is based on our community’s experience with anti-Jewish quotas in universities and professional schools up to the mid-1900s.
ADL opposes Connerly’s proposed Missouri amendment. It absolutely bans preferences based on race, gender or ethnicity in employment and education, and offers no exceptions for remedies for specific past discrimination. It does not provide that consideration of race or gender in school admissions can be appropriate as one factor among others.
There is no superstition about racism. Racism will not subside until we pass laws and ordinances that no longer have racially disparate impact, until we urge institutions to stop practices that keep racism alive, until individuals address personal bias before it has a negative impact on those around them.
John Wallach
Chairman, Regional Advisory Board
Karen J. Aroesty
Regional director, Anti-Defamation League, Missouri/Southern Illinois
St. Louis
Without question there is a different philosophy on the Kansas City Police Department today than in times past. Former Chief Clarence M. Kelley (1961-1973), when handling disciplinary matters, sought to determine if the actions of his officers were a mistake of the mind or of the heart. He was tolerant, even forgiving of a mistake of the mind, but not of the heart.
After a review by two independent judges who have ruled that the police department’s procedures were too vague to hold officers Melody Spencer and Kevin Schnell accountable for Sofia Salva’s miscarriage, KCPD Chief James Corwin wants to fire the two officers (1/30, Local, “Group wants officers’ firing upheld”). The firing serves no real purpose other than to offer these officers up as a sacrifice to the gods of special-interest groups on the altar of appeasement.
F.D. Jordan
Kansas City
My father was a small-town Methodist minister in southeast Kansas during the ’20s and ’30s. I remember well hearing the Philander Smith College singers, who are black, in concert several times at our church in Edna. My father worked very hard to promote good race relations. Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver were well known persons in our household.
My own children were raised to love everyone — yellow, brown, black or white. Maybe that’s why I have two beautiful, talented black granddaughters who, I hope, will be judged “by their character, not by the color of their skin.”
I am upset that some black and Hispanic leaders continue to “beat a dead horse,” namely the Frances Semler issue and stir up rancor among us over ill-perceived racial slights. It is time to rise above our petty grievances and “let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Kansas City has a fine mayor who is trying to be fair and just to all. Boycotting, or what I see as blackmail, is hurting the entire community. The ranting and finger pointing are wreaking havoc and causing divisiveness among us. Whatever happened to the idea of spreading Christian tolerance and brotherly love?
Janice McIntosh Korchak
Mission
Not being a golf fan, I was unfamiliar the incident regarding the Golf Channel broadcaster that Leonard Pitts’ wrote about (1/22, Opinion, Sharpton and Woods both whiffed this one”). I want to accept the argument that Kelly Tilghman simply made a mistake or put her foot in her mouth, and I welcome the interpretation that such blunders are not always racially motivated. People who say foolish things are not always fools.
But how does “lynch him in a back alley” fly out of a person’s mouth if the person isn’t racist? “Club him on the back nine” seems more like a golf gaffe that a broadcaster would be thinking, though still a bit bellicose in my view.
Finally, about the use of the word “denigrate,” whose Latin root means “to blacken”: By using it, Mr. Pitts perpetuates the association of negative terms related to blackness. By using it in a column in which he reminds readers that “all of us who communicate for a living … walk a tightrope,” he risks losing his balance.
For the record, I enjoy Mr. Pitts’ column and appreciate the issues he encourages me to think about.
Kathleen Tacelosky
Liberty
