Kansas City deserves a big-league baseball team. I don’t see one in these Royals | Opinion
What a team
Double-A baseball fever: Catch it!
Go Royals!
- Terry Sickel, Kansas City
Media’s role
According to sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen, the media and pop culture can have a negative effect on white people’s perceptions of Black people, and that can intensify racist fears. Repeated exposure to negative stereotypes and representations gives rise to how people see and feel about others.
I believe this to be a factor in the case of an older white man shooting a young Black teenager who was only looking to pick up his siblings. Every day, the news reports something calamitous. If the perpetrator is Black, too often a picture will accompany the story, while I’ve seen examples of stories about white suspects that have only a descriptor such as “25-year-old white male” and maybe a name. Every person knows this euphemistic journalistic code. When the only pictures shown are of Black people, it leads to fear mongering.
Ultimately, journalists need to understand what they report and how they report it contributes to the assault and deaths of innocent Black people. I am calling upon the profession of journalism to refrain from reporting events in a way that creates and sustains negative cultural biases, which can result in fear-based responses.
- Ursula Copeland, Kansas City
Value life?
Why are so many people who support civilian ownership of assault weapons the same people intent on banning abortion?
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and many other elected officials, the Catholic Church and other faith leaders are against abortion. What about the children and adults being gunned down in mass shootings? Oh, sure — they bemoan every new shooting and talk about how horrible it is. But taking real action to prevent hundreds of people from being killed and wounded every year? No.
If you support the “right to life” for children to be born, you should take the steps to support the banning of assault weapons and have background checks for protection of children and adults.
Most adults, including myself, have grown up with guns. We’ve been taught about firearm safety and are not against guns for hunting, personal protection and recreational use. But I am against semiautomatic rifles, and I believe a high percentage of my fellow Americans feel the same. What can these weapons be used for other than killing?
According to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 160 mass shootings so far in 2023, many times carried out with guns purchased just before the shooting, often without any background check.
How can you support the right to life if you can’t support the preservation of life after being born?
- Sheldon Oxner, Lake Lotawana
Whose side?
A few months ago, a woman shot in the back and killed an unarmed man because she feared for the life of her boyfriend, whom he was on top of and had in a chokehold. Whether that fear was justified is debatable, but because of Missouri’s “Stand Your Ground” law, she was not charged.
The Star’s editorial board responded with a long, sympathetic editorial, not about the victim or his family — oh no — but about the shooter. (Nov. 3, 2022, KansasCity.com, “Woman who shot off-duty KC firefighter did nothing wrong, but she’s paying a high price”) An interesting choice, but it was a stressful time for her, and showing compassion for someone in bad circumstances is laudable.
Now we have a shooter in the Northland who shot a teenager because, he claims, he feared for his life. A jury will decide whether that claim has validity. I assume it has also been a stressful time for alleged assailant Andrew D. Lester and eagerly await the editorial board’s treatment of his problems.
- Rex D. Nowland, Kansas City, Kansas
Honor Harry
I agree with an April 14 letter writer who suggested naming our new airport after President Harry Truman. (7A) I think he is the most important person Kansas City has provided to the country and the world. I know he lived in Independence, but he worked and held office in Kansas City.
- Gene Gladstone, Kansas City
