Letters to the editor: Endorsements for ICCSD board, City Council
Williams, Eastham, Abraham, Lingo for school board
How many of you remember a public school teacher who helped shape your life? We do. We’re betting you do, too. And many of those teachers were right here in the Iowa City Community School District.
The school board shapes policy for ICCSD, working with teachers, staff and administration, focused on how best to educate every single child who walks through their doors. They atract the best teachers and offer modern, well-maintained facilities — so that all our kids can one day look back, diplomas in hand, with gratitude for teachers who mattered to them.
We need — our children deserve — school board directors who are passionate about public education and care deeply about doing what is right for all our children: preparing them for our ever-changing world.
Whom we elect on Nov. 7 matters for your kids and grandkids, and for our collective future. Don’t sit this one out. Vote.
There are seven candidates on our ballots for four seats, but only four are serious about quality public education for ALL, so we’ll be voting for Lisa Williams, Charlie Eastham, Molly Abraham and Mitch Lingo.
State Rep. Dave Jacoby, House District 86; state Rep. Elinor Levin, House District 89; state Rep. Amy Nielsen, House District 85; state Sen. Zach Wahls, Senate District 43; Sen. Janice Weiner, Senate District 45; Rep. Adam Zabner, House District 90
Bergus is a voice for justice, empowering those on the margins
In his letter from the Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. lamented the white moderate who agreed with the concerns of Black justice advocates but criticized their methods, tone, or timing.
The lesson that white progressive leaders in Iowa City need to take from King’s letter is that their role is to bend the white moderate along the arc of justice, supporting those on the margins of our community. I’ve seen Laura Bergus embody just that kind of voice. In the wake of the protests following George Floyd’s murder, Bergus became increasingly active in organizations and efforts that would help her hear voices of Black and other persons of color, and she used her insight to powerfully reexpress those concerns and issues to white Iowa City while working to empower BIPOC voices.
Whether it’s been supporting the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the need for that work in the face of complaints about the TRC’s methods, tone, and timing, or advocating for reallocating police funds to social services in order to address the root causes of crime even when that position among progressives in white Iowa City had lost its luster ,Bergus routinely and consistently is doing what all white progressives should be doing.
Bergus is intelligent, inspiring, courageous, and principled, and she is a fearless advocate for justice. The Iowa City Council needs someone who can powerfully call us to do justice to those at the margins of our community. Vote Bergus in the November election.
Michael Tilley, Iowa City
Bergus values building up community
As a lifelong Iowa Citian, I am very interested in the health and well-being of our community. I don't believe that the measure of a "successful" community is growth; I keep hoping Iowa City can move away from development and other forms of business-sector growth as our primary aims. In place of these metrics, let's focus on how we care for each other, especially those in the community who are the most vulnerable.
I am voting for Laura Bergus because I am confident she is already dedicated to this approach to the "bottom line." I really appreciate how Laura has publicly grappled with her ideas about our city's approach to law enforcement and come to a position of wanting to increase funding for mental health services, affordable housing, and other areas that are known to decrease the need for policing while helping vulnerable populations feel more secure and connected. Laura is working toward the community I want to live in, and for that I am thankful.
Jennifer New, Iowa City
Bergus has strong idea on preventing gun violence
At the forum for Iowa City City Council District A Primary, the candidates presented very different views on the gun violence prevention efforts needed in our community.
For her part, Laura Bergus shared that Iowa City is one of the safest communities with a low rate of crime per capita and that she believes the City Council has a role to play in promoting gun safety, such as secure storage, for those who own guns in their home.
Laura supports the newly formed Johnson County program aimed at reaching out into the community to work with groups disproportionately impacted by gun violence to address the underlying causes of gun violence specifically impacting our community.
In every conversation I have had with Laura, she continually displays an understanding of the root causes of, and the solutions to, gun violence. This is simply one of the many reasons I voted for Laura Bergus in the October 10th District A Primary.
Temple Hiatt, Iowa City
Keep the momentum going and invest in cancer research
This month I had the honor of representing Iowa on Capitol Hill along with roughly 600 of my fellow American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) volunteers from across the country. Our mission? To call on Congress to make investments in cancer research a top priority.
Lives are at risk. Nearly 610,000 Americans will die from cancer this year alone. But with over 18 million cancer survivors alive today, we know that past investments in cancer research have made a real difference for millions of Americans. Further investments in research hold the key to saving more lives so we must fund our labs to keep them open.
I met with Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Joni Ernst, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and Rep. Ashley Hinson and explained to each of them that each dollar Congress puts toward cancer research offers hope to so many Americans. Breakthroughs in treatment and prevention will not only be realized through increased funding and investment, but also delivered to those who need them the most.
Now that the looming government shutdown has been avoided, congress must act now on this investment. We must increase medical research funding at the National Institutes of Health to $51 billion so we can continue to make progress to end cancer as we know it.
Bridget Toomey, volunteer, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
It’s time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month to grow up and rebrand
In 1985, the American Cancer Society partnered with a pharmaceutical company to create a breast cancer awareness campaign.
The goal of October Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been to educate the public about breast cancer and the importance of mammograms for early detection.
After 39 years, that goal has been achieved. It would be hard to find someone of young adult age and older who is not aware of breast cancer, but that knowledge seems to be limited and superficial. Not enough people know that:
Mammograms do not prevent breast cancer.
Early detection does not guarantee survival.
No one knows what causes breast cancer.
There is no cure.
Men get breast cancer.
The amount of money from fundraisers that goes to research to find a cause and cure is shockingly small.
During the month of October, breast cancer survivors and those who are currently being treated are celebrated and encouraged to share their stories. But too many of these events have deteriorated into embarrassing shenanigans with a dance party atmosphere, pink feather boas, pink cheerleader pompoms, garish pink wigs and costumes, parades of honking, decorated cars, and glitter everywhere. All this implies that breast cancer is not so bad after all.
Too many of the October event props insult and demean women, like “Save the ta-tas” t-shirts, “We love boobies” bracelets, cookies decorated to look like breasts, colorful bras hanging from trees, sparkly bras on department store mannequins. Many breast cancer patients and survivors, including myself, detest this trivialization and sexualization of a disease that traumatizes, mutilates and kills.
It is time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month to grow up and rebrand, to broaden education beyond mammograms. It’s time for everyone, every time, to ask the important question “How much of the money raised at this race/walk/golf tournament/fashion show actually goes to research?” and to get verification.
It’s time for a revival of authentic meaningful activism, time for an explosion of membership in the National Breast Cancer Coalition, which lobbies and petitions our representatives in Washington to propose and approve more research funding to accelerate development of the new therapies and targeted treatments that have improved outcomes and given hope to women facing this dreaded diagnosis.
It’s time to march in the streets again (yes, we used to do that) to demand that this deadly epidemic ends. It’s time to get angry and leave the pink feather boas at home.
Meredith Clark, Iowa City
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Letters to the editor: Endorsements for ICCSD board, City Council
