Not a 'racist country'? DeSantis, Haley skipped class during lessons on slavery

History lesson for Haley, DeSantis

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley proclaimed that “America has never been a racist country!” Gov. Ron DeSantis agreed! Neither Haley nor DeSantis has ever attended my U.S. history class. They cannot blame me for their ignorance.

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Let’s begin!

• Dredd Scott, 1857: A free Black man lost his freedom via a Supreme Court decision.

• Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882: Passed by Congress, signed by President Chester A. Arthur, to address job concerns and maintain white racial purity.

• Dawes Act, 1887: Native Americans could only vote if they surrendered their land and tribal affiliations.

• Takao Ozawa v. United States, 1922: Persons of Japanese descent were insufficiently white to qualify for citizenship.

• United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind, 1923: The Supreme Court declared persons of Indian descent, even “high caste Hindus,” ineligible for citizenship because they could not be legally recognized as white persons.

• Mexican Repatriation 1929-1936: More than 1 million Mexicans, many of them American-born, were rounded up and deported to help reserve jobs for white people.

• Gov. Ron DeSantis, 2023: Implied that racism and slavery were not totally bad things because they gave slaves opportunities to develop skills that would benefit them later in life.

Doug McClaugherty, Sarasota

Disaster ahead if Trump gets second chance

Will the American electorate catch on in time to save the nation and the world from a disaster?

What more do the citizens of this great nation need to know before they recognize the peril that another presidential term for former President Donald Trump will produce?

The potential: Giving Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin, dismantling the 30-plus NATO European buffer, condoning authoritarian leadership and forgoing the recognition of America as the bastion of liberal democracy and an empathic partner in assisting all nations.

There indeed is a slippery slope from democracy to autocracy in our future if we give Trump another chance at demagoguery. Trump is a true threat to this nation and the world’s stability.

It’s time to do one’s homework, recognize the severity of the situation, convince the naysayers with facts and vote for sanity.

Al Mahan, Sarasota

Don’t put democracy to the test

I question columnist Jonathan Turley’s conviction that our institutions can defend against anti-democratic forces (“Is democracy really in peril in 2024? I trust that our system will endure,” Jan. 15).

"Democracy" is an abstract term that might be a vague concept for many. A more concrete representation of democracy is the ability to vote and know that votes are accurately counted – and that your voice is heard.

When governors make laws that restrict voting by decreasing polling places, eliminating drop boxes and curtailing mail-in ballots, they effectively limit the voting rights of eligible voters.

When corrupt leaders attempt to falsify election results with fake electors, ask officials to “find votes,” or attempt to disrupt the counting of electoral votes, democracy is imperiled.

When citizens lose faith in the accuracy of elections, democracy dies.

When a candidate predicts “rigged” elections before any votes are cast, he is preparing his excuses for losing in advance.

When a loser files 60 cases in objection to the results and loses them all, and several states recount the votes by hand with the same result, the candidate and voters must acknowledge the validity of the election.

Mr. Turley may be right, but I don’t want to live through four years of chaos and potential violence to prove it.

Vote to save your vote.

Donna Brua, Port Charlotte

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Haley, DeSantis must have skipped history class on slavery