Friday's letters: Convictions a hopeful sign, inclusive language, roundabouts dangerous

Verdict may show shift in racist attitudes

The trial in Brunswick, Georgia, that brought convictions for the three assailants of Ahmaud Arbery almost didn’t happen. Only the leaked video of the “Bad Will or Ill Will Hunting” scene proved decisive to the jurors in reaching their unanimous guilty verdict last week.

So yet another Black mother experiences Thanksgiving with an empty chair and a pained and grieving heart. The three men pursued their “suspect” (i.e., a Black Man) last year under the guise of an 1863 Civil War citizen’s arrest law designed to chase runaway slaves. (Georgia repealed the law this year.)

I guess the three amigos thought that’s what they were doing when they chased Arbery as he was jogging down suburban streets.

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Armed with this law, weaponized trucks and a shotgun, Travis McMichael murdered Arbery and claimed self-defense, as if Arbery had no right to defend himself from a guy pointing a shotgun at him.

McMichael thought that under Georgia’s Stand Your Ground law he was entitled to shoot if he felt threatened by the young, muscled Black man – a threat by his very being.

But maybe, as Bob Dylan sang, “the times they are a-changin’.” Maybe we won’t have more Ahmauds missing Thanksgiving dinner because of men armed with guns, racist laws and racist attitudes.

Larry Grossman, Bradenton

Stop publishing Dr. Oz’s quackery

I cannot believe that this newspaper chose to add a regular weekly column by Dr. Mehmet Oz (“Beware of so-called ‘restorative’ therapies for ED,” Nov. 27). Did you look at the quackery he has participated in?

And the final straw came Nov. 30, when he announced his candidacy for a GOP Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

According to the New York Times: “In his announcement, Dr. Oz described his frustration with the ‘arrogant, closed-minded people in charge’ who shut schools and businesses during the pandemic.”

So now he’s also peddling dangerous disinformation about COVID-19.

Please stop enabling this terrible person and don't publish or pay for his weekly column.

John Gunkler, Sarasota

Choose inclusive, not divisive, language

I believe the sharp divisions within our near-toxic political environment are accentuated by word choices that too often divide us and make subsequent discussion problematic.

While “Black Lives Matter” is obviously a powerful phrase, it unfortunately also alienates many of those who defensively see the words as confrontational. But if we say “Black Lives Matter Too,” we change the dynamic from a divisive declaration to an inclusive statement of fact.

Similarly, why say “defund” the police when what the vast majority of us really seek is to “de-fang” the police. We need to get rid of the poison, not the money.

These changes in communication will help us turn down the volume and promote a quiet confidence that can make a loud statement. We can improve our conversations when we seek first to understand our audience.

I once told my nongolfing friend that I had won “my flight” in a weekend tournament. His response was, “Where to?” An honest question, but clearly not tuned to the same wavelength. Not a same page, same book moment.

We can only truly influence others by appreciating their uniqueness while speaking and listening in an empathetic manner that acknowledges their point of view.

We must get better at communicating with others who come at an issue from a different place.

Bob Robinson, Venice

Roundabouts will cause more crashes

Whoever dreamed up the plans for the roundabouts in the city of Sarasota made the biggest mistake ever. Just wait until all the condos on Lido and Longboat keys are filled.

Traffic is really horrible to get to Lido. There will be so many accidents in the near future. What was wrong with two arrows to turn left? There was never a problem.

Joan Stevens, Sarasota

No pineapple in pineberry

The Nov. 23 article in the Herald-Tribune titled “Farm Fever” contained a little gem that I thought most people would see right away, but talking with friends has shown me that I may be alone in spotting it.

Pineapples and strawberries cannot possibly be crossed with each other, as stated in the photo caption; they diverge way too far up the taxonomic tree to do that. They are in the same kingdom, but about as capable as any two far removed members of the animal kingdom.

Spiders and snakes are both in the animal kingdom, but no one would suggest that they can be crossed.

Pineberries are, in fact, a cross of two strawberry species. The strawberry that we all know is North America’s own Fragraria virginiana. It has been crossed with South America’s Fragraria chiloensis.

Stephen Gray, Sarasota

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Leaked video crucial in Arbery trial, don't publish Dr. Oz's quackery