Letters to the editor - Thursday, Sept. 7

Re: the Sept. 5. article “Luis Carrasco: ‘Dreamers’ are as American as you or I”

I’m blessed to have been U.S.-born, so I suppose I fall short of being able to empathize with the “dreamers.” And I won’t take Mr. Carrasco to task for his opinion that they “have earned the right to call themselves Americans.” Instead, I find it disappointing and disingenuous that the option of legal citizenship or dual citizenship never seems to be raised by the likes of Mr. Carrasco.

If a dreamer, by definition, is one whose parents are/were in the U.S. illegally and brought them to the U.S., then (as a parent of three) I would urge those families to remain intact, with the children reuniting with their parents, while pursuing legal U.S. citizenship. Those born here by illegal immigrants should pursue dual citizenship. After all, isn’t the family unit much more beneficial to the dreamer than being separated while remaining in the U.S.? I believe that Mexico prides itself on being a nation of strong families; it is time for them to prove it.

Wayne Penazek

Oro Valley

My mother taught me many years ago that “hate” is a terrible feeling. I didn’t hate President Obama. I didn’t even dislike Obama. Actually liked him. I just disagreed with many of his actions.

John Thomas

SaddleBrooke

Re: the Aug. 27 pro and con columns “Should California extend its ‘Tesla rebates’?”

While I agree that tax breaks for the rich are a bad idea, there are plenty of places to start eliminating those tax breaks before we get to the subsidy on electric cars. The purpose of the electric vehicle tax credit is to encourage a new technology that has exciting and promising economic and environmental benefits for the entire country. While Emperor Trump and his allies might champion the elimination of this tax break, forward-thinking Americans will recognize that the splurging of tax breaks on the oil, gas, coal and nuclear industries is a dead end. We need to embrace clean energy technologies and provide support in the form of tax breaks. Otherwise, we will simply see another promising industry slip away only to take root in China.

Sean Bruner

West side

As a local organizer and activist in the resistance of Trump’s dangerous agenda, I get asked “When are you going to talk about antifa and Black Lives Matter?” While BLM has done nothing but promote equal rights both locally and nationally, I am concerned about antifa.

Recent events at rallies around the country concern me. Whether these few masked individuals are initiating the violence or not, the video capturing them is being used to stir up hate against peaceful protesters. Such incidents are providing fuel for the government to further militarize the police. In essence, they are putting us all in danger, but none more so than people of color who are more at risk of brutal policing and targeted attacks. So I call on antifa to take off your masks and join the rest of us out in the open.

Marion Chubon

East side

I suffered a medical emergency during my weekly bicycle ride while on The Loop bike trail, along the Santa Cruz River adjacent to the Silverbell Golf Course on Aug. 31.

I just simply wish to thank some people who came to my aid, don’t know their last names but they were wonderful, staying with me until paramedics from the Tucson Fire Department arrived.

The names of those who came to my aid were bike riders who saw me in distress and stopped to help. Their names were Dale, Howard, Alissa — a nurse at TMC — and Elsa, a jogger pushing her son in a jogging cart and another bike rider who did not stay at the scene, but gave me an energy bar hoping it would help, and of course the four men from the Tucson Fire Department who had to leave their firetruck at the golf course clubhouse, take golf carts to reach me, administer first aid, and take me and my bicycle to my car some two miles away.

Juan Gonzalez

West side

Re: the Sept. 1 letter “Unwavering history of opposing Nazis”

The writer is equating today’s alt-left in America with our soldiers who fought in WWII. This is the most absurd, pseudo-intellectual comparison I have ever heard and is an insult of the highest order to all those who served in that conflict. The moral equivalence he attempts to portray is downright laughable.

Today’s American alt-left is a fascist, domestic terrorist movement (antifa, Black Lives Matter) that hates this country and whose cause is to completely transform it. Hardly a description of our military, past or present. Their membership consists of anarchists, socialists and communists who hold a totalitarian worldview and in reality are no different than neo-Nazis in their extremism. Nothing they have done or will ever do elevates them to the level of saviors of our country as the writer infers. The cause is what matters.

Jim Terry

East side

Re: the Sept. 5. article “End to DACA prompts protests in Tucson”

My colleagues at Sunnyside and in the neighboring schools of this community are anxious to express their opinions, and protest this president’s dreadful actions. I am just as anxious.

Mr. Trump’s decision to end the DACA program has sparked a desire to protest. In this case, many young people want to protest through walkouts. The walkout would occur during school hours. This form of protest completely defeats the purpose of DACA, which is to give an extended stay for undocumented people to get a job, or go to school.

I believe that we need to stay in school in order to create and promote a need for an educated mass to a create a world where there is no need for such protest.

Patrick Robles

South side