Help Convert Dreams Into Reality
Dear Editor: In 2012, President Obama announced that certain undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children (Dreamers) would receive temporary permission to remain and work or study in the U.S. but they not entitled to apply for citizenship nor for legal permanent resident status. This program is known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). It affects some 700,000 young people, many of
whom know no other home than the U.S.
In 2017, the Trump administration announced that this program would be terminated. Subsequent lawsuits ensued, and on June 18, the Supreme Court issued a decision allowing the DACA program to remain — for now. The Supreme Court decision is a
victory but there is a need for a definitive legislative solution to the plight of the Dreamers. According to the Center for Migrant Studies in New York City, more than 40,000 of these young people are essential workers — in health care and social assistance positions — and more than three times that number work in jobs such as teaching and food service.
Can we afford to lose these valuable contributors to our society, especially with the coronavirus so rampant in many parts of our country? Can we afford to lose the contributions that Dreamers are making and will make to our society? Is it fair that they, who have lived here for so many years, be deported to their countries of origin? Is this consistent with our American morals and values? If your answer is no, contact your elected officials and urge them to pass a law that would grant Dreamers a path to citizenship. Not only will the Dreamers benefit, but we also will be enriched by their contributions.
Sister Patricia Ferrick, SSND
Woodhaven
We Do Not Have a Bank of Justice
Dear Editor: I was disappointed and distressed with your column “The Virus of Violence” in the June 13, issue.
The recent protests are expressions of dissatisfaction with a non-viral condition of man’s inhumanity to others. These protests are a demand that America reconsider its past and start on a journey of a lasting permanent change in race relations. The endemic problem of racism is also reflected in the statistics related to the COVID-19 virus. These include unequal access to care and a preponderance of infection and death among minorities.
The virus of violence in race relations is not new. Race relations burst violently on the people of the U.S a long time ago. But then, as now, we have been ill-prepared and/or unwilling to handle it. African-Americans were not given a bad check.
There has been no bankruptcy. What we do not have is a bank of justice waiting to cash a check that has been written as policy/regulations yet undelivered. The bank that needs to be open is a heart and mind that sees all people through the lens of dignity and respect.
Carmelita Blake
North Park Slope
Editor’s note: The reference to the “bank of justice” and the “bad check” are not my words but, as it is clear in the column, part of a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.
We All Have the Right To Express Our Opinions
Dear Editor: I have never written a letter to the editor in all of my 88 years. I have lived through 15 presidents and I have prayed for my country’s leadership be they Republican or Democrat.
To prepare this response to Bob Fallon’s letter in the June 20th issue of The Tablet (“Trump Is a Take-no- Prisoners American Patriot,” Readers’ Forum), I have reread the
June 6 Tablet article on Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s statement about Donald Trump’s
visit to the Shrine (“Archbishop Rebukes Trump Visit to Shrine”).
The article is quite clear in stating that Archbishop Gregory was expressing a rebuke to the National Shrine’s organizers, which are The Knights of Columbus. He called their decision baffling and incomprehensible in light of the fact that St. John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings.
Why can’t Archbishop Gregory express this opinion, just like Bob Fallon has the right to express his opinion in a letter to the editor?
Jeanne Taylor
Breezy Point
Going Back to My Favorite Barbershop — Hair We Go!
Dear Editor: The city of New York has now entered Phase Two, which allows barbershops and hair salons to reopen.
Monday, June 22, the first day of reopening, I was at my favorite barbershop at 9:30 a.m. to get a haircut after almost five months. In front of the shop, they had chairs located six feet apart. Inside, was the same way and each person that was allowed to enter had their temperature checked. And each customer had to have a mask in addition to the barber as well.
Also, after each customer was finished and out of the chair, the barber would disinfect the chair.
I waited for a few minutes before and my barber took me to his chair. When he told me his name was Gabriel, I thought to myself, just like the angel from the Bible. We struck up a conversation and he told me he was glad to be back to work and I told him I was happy that he was back to work also.
Returning back to the barbershop was a welcome experience that I truly did miss. After I left, I felt like a new man at 71 years old. So, “Hair we go!”
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Glen Oaks Village
