TR Kerth deserves our gratitude for his insightful, accurate and inspiring column published on Aug. 13 (The Independence Day Speech We Never Heard).
A large majority of Americans and virtually the entire rest of the world have recognized our multiple failures to respond appropriately to the pandemic. All data indicates that we have suffered far more than any other developed nation: we have 4% of the worldās population and 25% of the infections and 22% of the deaths; going forward weāre projected to do much worse than most; Florida has had more deaths in the last two weeks than South Korea in total; schools and colleges are (or soon will be) a mess and, heaven forbid, football is likely to be cancelled.
The greatest country in the world, the one with the most resources, has failed spectacularly. Two things that are essential have been missing – strong, science based federal leadership and widespread compliance with the CDC recommendations for personal protection and opening states. We all need to wear masks, avoid indoor crowds, physical distance, and wash our hands often. Doing so will avoid another lockdown, allow schools to open and restart the economy.
If thereās a better plan, letās hear it with specifics. It is a measure of our patriotism and humanity to be responsible members of the larger community. In short, the American citizenry needs to live up to our founding ideals to meet this challenge. Letās do it!
Michael Christy
Sun City resident
People have very different opinions about how dangerous the COVID-19 virus is and whether our governor is doing a good job of trying to contain it. I wanted to share some of the facts that I have been gathering so you can use them to support your opinions. I have been tracking daily average new cases of the virus for 18 states including AZ, CA, FL, GA, IL, NJ, NY and TX. While the daily averages for the US are still fairly high, they are down 24% through Aug 18, compared to the end of July (using a seven day averaging technique). This is still up 20% from the end of June so we need to do better. Illinois is up 22% in average new cases from the end of July which is the second worst performance of the 18 states that I am following (SD is currently doing the worst). Arizona is the best being down 63%. I am tracking Cook and its collar counties and McHenry County is doing the best, down 10% and is now at 28 cases per day and one death a week.
Year to date our zip code (60142) is doing great compared to the national average and state averages of people testing positive for the virus compared to the total population: 1.6% of the US population has tested positive for the virus, 1.5% of the people in Illinois, 1.1% in McHenry County and 0.8% in our zip code. Compare this with the state of New York which is at 2.2% and California which is at 1.6%.
I believe Gov. Pritzker has done an average job overall but not well lately. He needs to make some changes now that the virus is getting worse in Illinois. I like that he has divided the state into eleven regions but I donāt like that his policies apply the same to all eleven regions. I would like to see him apply tighter restrictions to regions that are hot spots and loosen restrictions in regions that are doing very well. Our healthcare workers should be proud of their labors. They are on the front lines working hard every day and I hope they know that their efforts are saving many lives and are very much appreciated.
Joe Camp
Sun City resident
In The View from Planet Kerth, Aug. 13 ā 26, 2020 Sun Day, T.R. Kerth gives President Trumpās July 4 address as he wished the president had given it. Perhaps Mr. Kerth didnāt actually hear that address, because some of what Mr. Kerth would have liked to have been part of it was in fact included in the speech — but there was so much more to it.
The speech I heard and saw was given on the 3rd of July in front of Mount Rushmore. I thought the speech was the best Independence Day patriotic speech I had ever heard given by any president. If this letter is printed and my previous statement has created curiosity about the speech, you can still see and hear the speech on YouTube to see if you agree. The President did not address the controversial issue concerning getting the children safely back into the classroom this fall as Mr. Kerth would have liked, but he has been strongly advocating doing so for over two months, and taking a lot of flak from his boisterous political opponents accusing him of trying to murder children. Contrary to Mr. Kerthās opinion, President Trump is, as usual, showing strong and determined leadership on the issue while at the same time paying attention to the guidelines recommended by Dr. Fauci and other advisors.
Finally, it should be pretty clear to anyone whoās been paying attention over the last three and a half years that President Trump knows right from wrong and is never intimidated by political correctness while defining the difference.
Vincent Froberg
Sun City resident
My response to Vincent Frobergās recent letter:
Systemic racism is sometimes unconscious whether president Trump sees it or not. Mr. Trump in one of his thousands of pending and settled law suits was accused violating the US fair housing act in 1973 by denying rentals to people of color. The FHA was passed in 1968 under president Johnson, a president in my memory deeply involved with Martin Luther Kingās civil rights movement. Mr. Froberg racism is not something we are born with it is learned from many teachers, parents, peers, and media exposure of all types. To address big city destruction some riots have happened in Texas, Florida,and Tennessee. All of these locales have big cities and are longtime so called red states. The only loves I see that Mr. Trump has are lying to the public on TV and playing golf on his resorts that under-employ people of color while people are free to go broke or hungry or die from a pandemic. I donāt believe I need such an āincredibleā leader and I hope the election in November proves many others feel the same way. I hope I am able to vote as is my right in a safe manner without any postal problems.
Donald Jaeger
Sun City resident
T.R. Kerth offers his message (Sun Day 7/16) that the United States is a land of “systemic racism.” In other words, it is a country in which residents look down and disparage African Americans as inferior. If you see it and look the other way – well then you are “complicit” and to blame for its flourishing.
Finding “systemic racism” in the United States is quite a feat for Planet Kerth. Its 330 million inhabitants reside in 19,495 cities, towns and villages; and these communities are situated inside 3,141 counties within our 50 states. And this entire profile is spread out over about 3 million square miles of land and water. Kerth reaches his conclusions based on a couple of incidents of many years ago in the deep South and he cites the recent indefensible murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman as further proof of “systemic racism.”
It appears to me that Mr. Kerth’s real target is President Trump whom he says has claimed that “there is no systemic racism in America.” Trump must be blind, believes Kerth, who quips that the President’s inability to see “systemic racism” is akin to the “man who cannot know rain since he never leaves the house.”
Kerth’s theory, arguments and conclusion are poppycock. Mr. Kerth is simply attempting to advance Democrat allegations that President Trump is a hateful “racist.” The author calls upon his readers to ask themselves – “in his heart, is the President a racist–only he knows for sure.” Sounds like Mr. Kerth “knows for sure.”
In an attempt to bolster his condemnation of the President, and to show that deep down Americans are racists, Mr. Kerth tells of his own post-college days as a resident of North Carolina. He had a Black friend and a White friend. The Black friend declined to come into the house of a white man through the front door because that was not acceptable in the south. Entry for a Black man into a White man’s home was only through the back door. In another recollection, he was told of friends of his son – an African American and a Japanese man – who were refused shelter in local hotels in Louisiana because of race. The George Floyd killing is added as part of the bigger picture.
With his non-sequitors, I hope that Mr. Kerth is not endorsing violence, looting, and anarchy within cities as a way of challenging racial hate. Mayors and governors actually endorsed the violence in some cities by allowing streets to descend into lawlessness and bring about further deaths, including the fatal shootings of black children and the slaying of a retired St. Louis police captain, all of whom were Black.
Putting aside his disdain for President Trump, Kerth should consider the incredible advances in America in making all persons equal under the law. In the past quarter century, great numbers of African Americans have become senators, mayors, trustees, councilmen, heads of great companies, military generals and dominant figures in sports and in the media.
An African American became this country’s 44th President, elected twice over white candidates, one of whom was Sen. John McCain, an American war hero. A few years ago, South Carolina elected Tim Scott as its first-ever black senator. More than one-in-five voting members (22%) of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are racial or ethnic minorities, making the 116th Congress the most racially and ethnically diverse in history. African Americans make up 13 per cent of the country’s population.
Yes, there is still racism in the USA, and still individuals, unfortunately, even police officers, who treat Blacks badly, but discrimination against Blacks continues to abate and is hopefully on its way out. Discrimination against Blacks in restaurants and hotels is a matter of history, in accord with the civil rights law of 1965.
The only place where the idea of “systemic racism” exists is in the mind of PlanetKerth and others who believe that it will bring political gains and a denunciation of President Trump.
William Juneau
Sun City resident
Black lives matter let everyone know who they really are and what they stand for, when they condoned looting, they call it reparations. Up to this time they were still – quote ā protesters. For cover they take a man of questionable character and had Pelosi give the brother a flag, under ā quote – protests many police were injured, some shot and killed , millions in damages, in their eyes this is Ok. In the same time frame hundreds of Blacks were shot in Chicago and many killed mostly by other Blacks. Little outcry. At the same time Black on White death. Nothing on our favorite news media. Here is one Black culture can be proud of, Bernell Tramel, A Black Milwaukee barber in early August was shot and killed for holding a Trump sign. Not reported on the news. It is unfortunate that the babblers prevail and the sheep follow. People wonder why the country is divided. People with common sense know why. The informed Black voter knows that the Democratic party has run Chicago for the last 60 years or so. Their policies are why the Black neighborhoods are what they are and health care is lacking. Here is a thought, You do not break the law ,it all goes away.
John Mayerhofer
Sun City resident
