Letters to the Editor | Sept. 13, 2024

Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill was treated very disrespectfully by the Miami-Dade County police. After watching the body-camera footage of his arrest, it’s clear that it was not fair at all how the officers went about the situation. Dragging Hill out of his car even though he was cooperative — just slow in complying — the officers were way too aggressive for no reason. That is the problem sometimes with police and people of color during traffic stops.

Too much tension arises, and egos get in the way of doing a practical job. This whole incident could have been prevented by the officers just taking their time with Hill. Asking all the standard questions but with just less aggression. Police throughout America, particularly in big cities, need to control their forcefulness when dealing with people of color.

Things do not have to get complicated and blown out of proportion when trying to just give a ticket or make a legal arrest. There are too many names, too many examples of bad policing in our country already. We should not keep adding to that list and deepening the divide between the public and law enforcement. It’s already rough enough dealing with violence and crime.

Alim Howell, Upper Darby

By any measure, former President Donald Trump decisively lost his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. He was humiliated and made to seem old and, at times, absurd. Immediately afterward, among a gaggle of reporters, he offered ridiculous imaginary poll numbers proclaiming his huge win. For years I have thought of Trump as a deliberate and calculating liar with some goal in mind. But now I believe there is a much more ominous feature of his personality and psychological makeup. Simply put, he cannot accept any type of criticism or failure, and must reflexively construct an opposite reality, one where he is the smartest, the best, an oratory genius, the biggest winner. Strange to say, but there may be no sinister ulterior motives at all. I don’t think he can control this need any more than breathing.

We all recall Trump’s early denials surrounding COVID-19. No one would have blamed the former president for the virus reaching our shores, but since it was even associated with his administration, the irrational reflexive response kicked in once again. He stated that it was under control and would just simply disappear as thousands overwhelmed hospitals everywhere. This was a huge national catastrophe with death, economic chaos, and severe psychological impacts. If this did not spur an honest, empathetic, problem-solving response from Trump, what will? We need honesty, encouragement, and frankness from a president during a crisis. We know Trump now, and alarmingly, could not believe a word he says.

Joseph B. Baker, West Chester

You may have seen an NFL spot where Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (you may have heard of him) throws a burning football to the top of the Los Angeles Colosseum to light the flame for the 2028 Olympics. In the year 2024, it’s really hard to think back to when the ancient Greeks first hosted what would become a global tradition or to imagine athletes from all over the empire warming up in a Greek palaestra for flag football. Yet, there is something appropriate about Philly’s own being the flag football ambassador as the sport makes its debut appearance in the Olympics.

Since its foundation in 1682, a reverence for ancient Greece has existed in William Penn’s Philadelphia. Its very name — evoking the emotion of brotherly love — pays homage to a Greek metropolis dating back to antiquity. In 1811, engineer and famed architect Benjamin Latrobe proclaimed that “the days of Greece may be revived in the woods of America, and Philadelphia become the Athens of the Western World.” Back in 1927, our own beloved University of Pennsylvania Palestra opened, taking its name from Greek athletic grounds. It has since hosted more NCAA basketball games than any other building in the U.S.

It’s not certain whether the 2028 U.S. flag football team will include NFL players — or even some Philadelphia Eagles, including Ambassador Hurts. But given Philadelphia’s ties to the cradle of the Olympic Games, it would only be fitting that we are rightfully represented.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt, Abington Township

The deaths of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau have cast a pall over New Jersey’s cycling community. This incident is a stark reminder of the risks each cyclist faces when riding on the roads. Their deaths come at a time when New Jersey has dragged its feet on promoting and increasing automobile driver awareness of the state’s now three-and-a-half-year-old Safe Passing Law, which mandates a buffer zone between passing vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians.

Cycling advocacy organizations and clubs have been aggressively lobbying the state for laws and programs that would increase the margin of safety for cyclists and pedestrians for years. Sadly, signage that indicates an automobile driver’s responsibilities when passing these groups is largely missing from New Jersey’s roads, leaving many drivers completely ignorant of the law.

Members of our cycling club became aware of the brothers’ death in Salem County while on a group ride the next day. The effect on each rider was evident. Does it take high-profile deaths to move the needle toward improved safety for cyclists and pedestrians on the roads? It seems that signs protecting horses are a higher priority in New Jersey than signs protecting cyclists and pedestrians. If the state fails to act, injuries and deaths on the road will continue to mount.

David Speis, board of trustees, Princeton Free Wheelers Cycling Club

The pervasive question about Tuesday evening’s debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump: Could Harris hold her own with a devious showman skilled in the use of invectives? A two-word response: Yes, brilliantly! For me, this event awakened precious, hopeful, sleeping memories. Mildred Otenasek, Maryland’s national committeewoman, was a devoted John F. Kennedy supporter who became my mentor and friend. She appointed me “page” to our Maryland delegation at the 1960 Democratic National Convention. Otenasek introduced me to Sen. Kennedy; many of my college friends and I worked tirelessly for him. He urged me to begin working toward my master’s degree in social work. During my first year, he was assassinated.

Kennedy’s short time in office was filled with optimism, based on his deep belief that our brave experiment in democracy could and would succeed because — as Harris reminded us — we have far more in common than what divides us. Americans want the same things for our children, and what we hope and dream of is possible. It has been unsettling at best to see how so many wish to tarnish the positives JFK and his brother, Robert, brought us. But I was there; I saw firsthand what both men believed about America’s potential.

Not long before the 1968 assassinations of each, Robert F. Kennedy heard these values put into words by Martin Luther King Jr.: “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” At a time of debilitating division and hatred permeating America and the world, at Tuesday’s debate, we the people became Harris’ jury — her professional training, experience, adversarial skill, authenticity and passion, and studious prep in perfect harmony. The vice president’s argument that all we have in common and yearn for can be achieved together parallels the hope and promise of King’s words. Harris won handily over a ruthless performer. And so did we.

SaraKay Smullens, Philadelphia

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