Anti-maskers endanger the island
I was unable to comment on the article about the meeting of “For Our Rights members” and the council, but seeing the photo told the whole story.
The only ones I saw in masks were a couple of the councilmembers.
At this point in time, the best way to show respect and aloha is with masking and social distance, and I see none of it with this group.
Why is this OK at this point in time?
Wasn’t a cluster tied to this gathering?
Encouraging this type of behavior is alarming to me.
If this group does not want to mask and social distance they should stick to writing letters or emails and using Zoom and not endangering the rest of the island.
Petrina Blakely, Kapa’a
Suggestion for next anti-masker needing surgery
The next time that any of the anti-maskers need surgery, demand that no one in the operating room wear a mask so that you’ll be safe from infection.
John Patt, Koloa
Discrimination must not be tolerated
An anti-vaccination mob has given the Aloha State a huge national black eye.
(Wednesday), Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC interviewed Lieutenant Governor Josh Green. His home had been assaulted a few nights before by people who opposed his stand on medical treatment for COVID-19. His family was attacked with strobe lights, harsh voices on bullhorns, and posters and flyers spread throughout the neighborhood claiming he should not be believed because he is a “Jew.”
Green’s answers to O’Donnell’s questions were reasonable. He explained he is an emergency-room doctor, that the emergency rooms and hospitals are filled beyond capacity with COVID-19 patients, and people need to take precautions to avoid the virus. He did not scold the mob, but it was clear he was worried for his family’s safety and the need to explain to his children that Jewish people are not evil.
It is necessary for people of goodwill to speak out against anti-Semitism as well as any discrimination based on race, color or religious preferences. Why? Because the litany of hate spreads like a virus throughout a community.
To those who say it can’t happen here, you are ignoring the thousand-year history of anti-Judaism. The scream of “Jew,” “Jew,” has led to devastating misery for the people of David.
If good people are silent, bad things happen.
We live in the land of aloha, a place of beauty, kindness and a melting pot of many races united as one. Let us not ruin our treasured homeland by the viper of discrimination and hate. Let us all vow to be pono with each other.
I have experienced discrimination against Latinos, Blacks, Jews and our Japanese brothers and sisters on the mainland U.S. It is ugly. It must not happen in Hawai‘i.
William J. Fernandez, Kapa‘a
Frequent visitors are staying away
We shudder to think of the virus running rampant again in the island state.
We are frequent visitors who have stayed away so as to not expose ourselves to the islanders nor the islanders to us.
We see the occupancy rates of the state’s hospitals increasing to near capacity.
We wonder why when we are dealing with such a remote location of our citizens our government does not do more to assign our assets when there is a need.
We can all complain about President Trump, but he did do his best to assign what we have to places where it would do the most good. Hey, he even assigns a ship with 1,000 hospital beds to New York, but out of spite the governor did not use it.
Why does our existing president not assign that ship to Hawai‘i?
Instead of running around and doing nothing, why not move some of these things so the islands can lean on them?
I am guessing that we would not see the asset sit unused in Hawai‘i.
Why is the press not making positive noises/suggestions like this instead of making the public seem to be the villains because they want to live a life with their families?
Brian Chipman, Florence, Arizona
Source: The Garden Island
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