Refuse hate in New York City
We pride ourselves as being a city
COURIER LIFE, APR. 30-MAY 6, 2021 25
On this month’s editorial,
‘More than a mistake’
Dear editor,
I strongly agree with the author of
the editorial “More Than A Mistake”
in the “Bay News.” Police departments
in many parts of the country,
including New York, do desperately
need to be reformed.
I fail to understand how any properly
trained offi cer could mistake a
Glock handgun for a taser or why police
offi cers have to use choke holds
or other often fatal methods or even
gunfi re to subdue unarmed suspects.
I also do not understand why
many citizen groups want to defund
police departments when these departments
desperately need funds
to recruit, select and properly train
new police offi cers and to provide
psychiatric and other help to experienced
police offi cers who have become
stressed out on the job, or at
home, or both.
Police offi cers today are subject
to continuous stress, both on and off
the job, especially in these times of
Covid-19 and increasing racial prejudices,
including completely unjustifi
ed hatred and violence against
EDITORIAL
Asians as well as other races.
As a result, an increasing number
of offi cers need psychological help in
dealing with their own as well as others’
prejudices. Extreme stress can
drive offi cers to mistake one weapon
for another or not let up on a choke
hold.
I hope that with proper training
and assistance our police offi cers of
all races will once again become people
that all of us, children and adults,
can turn to and trust just as I was
taught to when I was a child.
I grew up in America, a country
where all people were considered
innocent until proven guilty. What
happened?
Elaine Kirsch
Brooklyn
Congratulations!
SHOREFRONT PARTNERSHIP ALLIANCE,
on behalf of ourselves and
our scores of Partners, offer our
most sincere congratulations:
• to Hon. Craig A. Eaton, Esq.,
our organization’s Chief Counsel
and Senior Partner in the fi rm
Eaton & Torrenzano LLP, upon being
an Honoree of Schneps Media’s
event for 2021 Power Lawyers. Craig
truly deserves this recognition for
his decades of excellent service to,
and representation of, the people,
particularly of Southern Brooklyn;
• to Schneps Media and the Schneps
family for your 49 Awards from
the New York Press Association for
your online and print community
newspapers. Your foresight in understanding
the importance of community
news in the day-to-day life of
residents and businesses is of the utmost
importance to us all;
• to Meaghan McGoldrick, Editor
of Courier Life Publications. The
quality of your leadership and dedication
has contributed in large measure
to Schneps Media being recognized
as the #1 media group in New
York City;
• to Jessica Parks and Rose Adams,
reporters covering (primarily)
Southern Brooklyn, for the online
Brooklyn Paper and the print copy
Courier Life Publications. Your interest
in our area, and detailed stories
of importance therein, makes
our residents and businesses more
aware of what is happening in their
own neighborhoods as well as giving
those outside of our area an understanding
of what is happening
and what we are doing, in Southern
Brooklyn;
• to Todd Maisel, whose photo
journalism has, for decades, given
all of us a clear “picture” of the
people and events in our neighborhoods.
You have brought us to life
for ourselves and the rest of the
world through your camera lens.
Again, thank you and congratulations
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Signed, SHOREFRONT PARTNERSHIP
ALLIANCE (Hon. Maurice
H. Kolodin, President; Hon. Stephen
“Butch” Moran, Executive Vice
President; Hon. Joyce Arberman, Senior
Vice President)
On Earth Day
Dear Editor
Earth Day 2021’s theme is Restore
Our Earth – focusing on ways
to prevent and reverse the impacts
of climate change. Incorporating
more products and materials made
from renewable, plant-based inputs
into our lives can help address our
environmental challenges head on.
Using more plant-based products
– including everything from household
cleaners, packaging, textiles,
building materials and more – can
decrease our reliance on fossil fuels,
reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
and cut down on landfi ll waste.
As the sustainable inputs used to
create these products grow, they remove
carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution
from the atmosphere. And many
of these products are compostable,
helping provide much-needed organic
matter and nutrients to our
depleted soil resources.
The Plant Based Products Council
is dedicated to promoting the
adoption of more renewable products
and materials. This Earth Day
let’s commit to using more renewable
resources to create the products
we use every day as an important
step towards restoring our earth.
Jessica Bowman
Executive Director
Plant Based Products Council
Washington, D.C.
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
Submit letters to:
Meaghan McGoldrick, Edi tor, Courier
Life, 1 Metro Tech Center North,
Brooklyn, NY 11201, or e-mail to
editorial@schnepsmedia.com. Please
include your address and tele phone
number for so we can con fi rm you
sent the letter. We reserve the right
to edit all correspondence, which
becomes the property of Courier Life.
SOUND OFF TO THE EDITOR
LETTERS AND COMMENTS FROM OUR READERS
of diversity, a microcosm of the
small planet itself — a place
where all the peoples of the world are
represented, living together and striving
to make better lives for themselves
and their families.
And yet, the past weeks have demonstrated
that New York City is far
from the harmonious cultural epicenter
it proclaims to be.
The enraging spike in hate crimes
targeting Asian New Yorkers continues
to persist despite the public condemnation
of these horrendous, intolerant
acts. They persist even as the
NYPD stepped up its efforts to protect
all New Yorkers and crack down on
bigots.
Over the weekend, some hateful
thugs trashed a number of synagogues
in the Bronx for no reason other than
to spread their own ignorance and ugliness.
We must not forget that before
COVID-19 hit our city, we witnessed a
spike in anti-Semitism that, like the recent
attacks on the Asian community,
continued to happen even in the face of
public condemnation and outrage.
All of us should know better. All of
us in this city are descendants of immigrants,
or immigrants ourselves. In
the past year, we have literally taken
to the streets demanding an end to racial
injustice — but we need to understand
that call isn’t only to stop police
brutality.
This must also be a call for all New
Yorkers to respect each other, too, and
to reject the evils of hatred. We are not
born hateful; bigotry is not an inherent
trait.
Filmmaker Tyler Perry reminded
the world of that as he accepted an
honorary Academy Award at Sunday’s
Oscars ceremony. His words are a true
clarion call for all of us as a city, and a
country.
“I refuse to hate someone because
they are Mexican or because they are
Black or white or LGBTQ,” Perry said.
“I refuse to hate someone because they
are a police offi cer. I refuse to hate someone
because they are Asian. I would
hope that we would refuse hate.”
We share the same hope.
Let us refuse hate in New York City.
Let no one denigrate, defame and attack
another New Yorker because of
who they are.
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