SAN JOSE, CA - MARCH 13: A person holds up a sign at a rally against anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander hate crimes at City Hall in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, March 13, 2021. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)
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Legislation would help
codify hate crimes
Re: “Bill aims to bolster hate-crime charges” (Page B1, April 2).
I understand the purpose of the California Public Defenders Association’s opposition to further clarification of hate crime criteria that address prosecution problems based on accused perpetrators’ motivations. It’s currently too difficult for the DA to establish a case a jury relates to and will understand as a crime.
Hate has become normative in our society. So has hate-motivated behavior, and this affects juries.
This legislation (AB 1064) however will clarify for arresting officers, investigators, DAs and CPDAs that a pattern of targeted hate behaviors establishes a hate crime motivation. The bill can also help to actually establish, in practice, an understanding of these patterns, as illegal examples for investigators during future case development.
People who have never experienced a hate crime or witnessed one have a hard time understanding “hate in action,” absent experience. This needs to be made clearer to juries.
Delorme MckeeStovall
San Jose
Celebrate reps who
fight for constituents
Thank you Rep. Ro Khanna for standing up for your constituents.
Rep. Khanna signed the congressional letter from Reps. Brendan Boyle, Pramila Jayapal and Annie Kuster calling for a clean vote to avoid a default on our debts and opposing any cuts to Social Security, Medicare and other programs our community relies on.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and fellow Republicans are threatening to drive the United States to default on our debts if they don’t get their way. Their goal is to slash Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other vital programs. Cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid pull the rug out from underneath those who have paid into the programs — not to mention the risks of a recession and job losses if Republicans force the government to default on its debt.
When our representatives stand up for the people, rather than corporate interests or their own pockets, we prosper.
Rebecca Elliot
San Jose
Hold team accountable
for poor sportsmanship
Re: “Purple reign” (Page C1, April 3).
I was appalled by the photo on the front page of the sports section showing an LSU player “mocking” an Iowa player. Upon reading the article I realized she learned this display of poor sportsmanship from her coach, who is quoted laughingly saying, “So much for preaching defense and rebounding.”
I hope LSU and the NCAA reprimand both of them for their actions and comments. And statements of contrition should be a condition for a White House visit.
Erik Haselbach
Foster City
Encourage schools
to pursue diversity
Re: “Transgender youth: ‘Forced outing’ bills make schools unsafe” (Page A3, March 23).
Reading that Al Stone-Gebhardt was prohibited from using the self-given name in the diploma, I saw the challenge of building reasonable boundaries between school and individuals in gender identification.
There is an urgent need to give enough education to teenagers about gender diversities, respect toward peers and self-acceptance as well as to faculties about support and respect. Imagining if the faculties can value the vulnerability of the children in their self-identity, the school could be a safer place for students to express, communicate and share.
Every school needs to think of its plans for pursuing diversity. This process needs long-term cultivation and patience, requiring the involvement of research about the psychology of children’s development, self-identity and mental health; ethics of teachers; models of healthy communities, etc. Schools also need to listen to advice from different groups, ranging from parents to teens, from heterosexual people to homosexual people.
Peitong He
San Jose
When leaders lie,
hold them accountable
Re: “As Iraq War showed, consensus in foreign policy can be dangerous” (Page A7, March 28).
Elizabeth Shackelford writes, “It’s tempting to lay blame on individuals.” The implication is that we, ourselves, are culpable for blindly following our leaders in their folly.
True enough, we were guilty of forgetting to use critical thinking skills to assess the likelihood of a trailer in the desert being a manufacturing plant for WMD as well as wondering how Saddam Hussein, despicable as he was, had anything to do with Osama bin Laden.
I would say, however, that President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and others, led a massive campaign to push the narrative leading to war. Only Rep. Barbara Lee did not succumb to the blitz.
We should heed Shackelford’s advice to be more cautious and self-aware in the future, but when our elected leaders lie to us to promote such an ill-advised policy, we must hold them accountable.
William Rosenberg
Kings Mountain
Correction
An editorial Sunday misstated that Senate Bill 541 would make condoms available to students in grades 7-12. The bill applies to grades 9-12.
Originally published at Letters To The Editor