Letters: Black History Month open letters to congress
Statement of NAACP for Black History Month
– The San Luis Obispo County Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is honoring Black History Month with the SLO County Branches of Indivisible to celebrate democracy.
We have identified top priority issues for our community and asked community representatives to write treatise statements to present to our Congressmen. We will be asking our community to participate by reading these “Open Letters To Congress” and by contacting our congressmen with voter thoughts.
Tobin Johnson
President, San Luis Obispo County NAACP
Open letter to Congress: Advance universal healthcare
– The United States is the most economically developed country in the world. We are looked upon as having the most sophisticated democracy of all developed nations. But unfortunately, the United States is the only developed country that lacks a universal healthcare system, a single-payer system for all Americans.
Our US Representatives Jimmy Panetta and Salud Carbajal are co-sponsors of a single-payer bill called the Medicare for All Act 3421. To pass this bill they need grassroots support.
Much of the public is unaware of this bill. Our congressmen need to be out in their districts hosting town hall meetings to educate the public on the following.
1.What is a single-payer system? And how does it compare to our current employer-based, multiple-payer system?
2. Why is single-payer more affordable and more efficient than our current system?
3. What can the public do to show support for the Medicare for All Act 3421?
When it comes to an issue such as our health and citizen well-being, our leaders need to be engaged. Our leaders must educate the public and include them in the legislative process.
Robert Skinner
Atascadero, Calif.
Open letter to Congress: Stop punishing the population of Gaza
I am a member of the Islamic community. In 2014, I launched a counter-extremism program known as ANTI-VIRUS: Anti-Violent Ideology Recruitment in the United States. This project was aimed at silencing the toxic narratives of violent extremists domestically and abroad. At that time the focus was on groups like ISIS, AQ, Boko Haram, extremist Israeli settler movements, and domestic far right extremists. Today, Anti-VIRUS takes aim at the atrocities committed by Hamas, and the far-right Netanyahu regime.
The 10/7 massacre spawned a disproportionate surge of violence against Palestinian civilians. The horror of these past weeks is captured well in the story of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was murdered by IDF forces along with the EMS providers who were deployed to rescue her.
Hers is only one of 30,000 similar stories of state-sponsored murder, and 2 million stories of starvation and displacement.
Coining the description, “Amalek” from 1 Samuel: 15:3, Israel’s leaders have targeted schools, churches, mosques, homes, and markets, and in the process, have murdered tens of thousands and displaced millions. The far right in Israel doesn’t seek to only target the perpetrators of the horrific 10/7 attack but rather punish the entire population of Gaza.
Conscientious Americans seek an immediate ceasefire, the return of innocent captives on both sides, and any support for Israel to be made conditional upon our legal precepts that forbid our tax dollars from being used in the perpetration of crimes against civilians. It is unconscionable that progressive elected leaders support terror perpetrated by a far-right foreign government.
Please contact Congress with your thoughts.
Dr. Rushdi Cader M.D.
San Luis Obispo
Open letter to Congress: Address violent communication
Violent communication is often the result of using manipulation or coercive language that induces fear, guilt, anger, grief, shame, praise, blame, duty, obligation, punishment, and/or reward. Violent communication happens in our speaking, in our listening, in our emotions/feelings through self-talk, imagined conversation, or video games… Manipulating the masses to think that firearms will keep them safe in a population of emotionally unstable armed Americans.
So what we have in the USA where our liberties are being limited, people are connected to an electric dead machine more than the environment around them and the people in their lives. Armed to the hilt and ready to kill each other if we do not wake up.
We are killing the planet with pollution, character and truth is not valued, war is on the horizon, famine and water shortages, climate disasters, and overpopulation is the way of the future, and the band plays on.
So in conclusion violent communication is at the core of gun violence. This is a violent country. Just turn on your TV or read the newspaper or go online and get a big dose of violent communication. Violent communication kills especially with an AK7 with a big magazine or the like.
Rev. Stephen Vines
CEO Vines of Life Solutions
San Luis Obispo County
Editor’s note: Opinion pieces and letters to the editor are the personal opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Paso Robles Daily News or its staff. We welcome letters from local residents regarding relevant local topics. To submit one, click here.
