Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.
Civil disobedience
remains critical in U.S.
In 1963, after being arrested for peacefully protesting injustice in Birmingham, Alabama, Martin Luther King wrote a letter from his jail cell to fellow clergy who deemed his demonstrations unwise. In his letter, King reminded that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. He also stated that we should not be more devoted to order than justice or prefer a negative peace, which is the absence of tension, to a positive peace, which is the presence of justice.
ICE raids at elementary school graduation ceremonies, high schools, universities and job sites not only violate the Constitution but represent a grave human injustice. As citizens of a free society, we all have not only the right but the responsibility to speak out against injustice. Civil disobedience is as relevant today as it was against the Tea Tax in Boston in 1773.
Barry Gardin
Hayward
Immigrant stories are
the stories of the U.S.
Is there any doubt that, here in America, we need immigrant workers?
Both of my grandfathers were immigrants. They worked in, and raised families working in, slaughterhouses and restaurant businesses.
Their daughters and sons went on to defend this country during World War II. Their grandchildren went on to become college graduates and professionals, contributing in every way to the American dream.
This is the path of immigrants. We need the workers for those jobs that most Americans do not want to do, working in agriculture, meat packing, construction, landscaping and the service industry. Are the Proud Boys, the White supremacists in khaki pants and masks, going to do stoop labor in the fields?
Trump had Congress kill a well-crafted bill to shore up our immigration laws, secure the border and increase safe passage for workers to come here and work without threat. Just do the damn job, and stop playing games.
Zoe Simons
Concord
Founders’ worst fear
was leaders like Trump
Re: “Trump-Newsom clash over protests feeds their interests” (Page A6, June 11).
Dan Walters’ article equated Gov. Newsom and President Trump. There are some discrepancies between them.
Trump heads the military of the United States, land, sea and air. He also has a friendly majority on the Supreme Court, nearly guaranteeing legal acceptance of whatever he does.
Newsom has the California Highway Patrol and the California National Guard, which can be placed under Trump whenever he wants it. Newsom, unlike Trump, is not flooding the media with wild exaggerations of the “nightmares” supposedly inflicted on California.
When American patriots gathered in 1787 to write our Constitution, leaders like Trump, who wants all power gathered solely in his hands, were the danger they worried most about.
Michael Steinberg
Berkeley
Newsom should restore
decent pay for jurors
Re: “Newsom abruptly cuts pay for jurors” (Page B1, June 6).
I learned why Californians are reluctant to serve as jurors, especially in Alameda County.
According to a recent report in the East Bay Times, Gov. Gavin Newsom has abruptly cut pay for jurors from $100 to $15. I feel insulted.
His action means jurors will go back to receiving $15 a day for their service. It is shameful, disheartening and cruel.
Related Articles
Letters: South Bay ICE raids are targeting hard-working people
Letters: Delta Conveyance Project will assure Tri-Valley water supply
Letters: California leaders must help residents fireproof homes
Letters: National Guard deployment in Los Angeles threatens rights of all
Letters: Washington, D.C., has a deficit of humanity
The governor must realize that jurors are an essential part of our judicial system and the cut in pay would become a burden on their wallets.
Fifteen dollars is not enough to cover parking, a sandwich, coffee and a bag of chips, especially when the prices of everything have gone up. It is disappointing.
I ask Newsom to rescind his decision.
Zafar Yousufzai
Fremont
