We ARE better than this
The opinion article authored by Samantha Pak, hit the nail on the head (“We are better than this,” published July 26, 2019).
The outright racism from the White House directed at the four congresswomen and Representative Elijah Cummings, and the cries of “send her back” from the mob scene, are direct attacks on the principles of our country and the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.
We should not and cannot be silent, to these attacks on our fellow humans and citizens. Unless we are of 100 percent Native American heritage, we are all immigrants or descended of immigrants. Being an American does not imply being white, and anyone who believes that is welcome to meet me for coffee.
It is time we all stand up to this blatant, racist rhetoric. This is not America at its finest. We are better than this.
Kathy MacKay Heneghan
Issaquah
Prop 1 supports mental health
When voting on Evergreen Health’s Proposition 1 on the Aug. 6 Primary Election ballot, you may not be aware of a hidden gem in this bond. Our elected officials (commissioners) decided to build an outpatient mental health clinic if we pass the bond.
The need is definitely there. According to the “National Institute of Mental Health”:
One in 25 have a serious mental health illness like bipolar, eating disorders, major depression and severe anxiety.
Only 41 percent of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year.
Among adults with a serious mental illness, 62.9 percent received mental health services in the past year.
Just over half (50.6 percent) of children with a mental health conditions aged 8-15 received mental health services in the previous year.
Suicide is now the number-two killer of our teens.
So please know Prop. 1 is more than seismically retrofitting Evergreen’s oldest buildings and upgrading the 1985 Critical Care Unit. It’s about “the forgotten people” — our mentally challenged residents and their families crying for care.
Please vote “Yes” on Proposition 1.
Bob Yoder
Redmond
Moving to Canada
That was the running joke after Donald Trump became president. Folks threatened to move to Canada.
It’s no longer a joke.
Trump is actively seeking to remake America into an autocracy, fashioning himself after dictators he admires — Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, China’s Xi Jinping and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. Trump supporters, in Washington D.C. and around the country, approve of Trump’s leadership and, therefore, are allowing our country to slip from democratic rule into dictatorial rule.
The Republican Party is now Trump’s party. Leaders like Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are helping Trump “stack the deck” against democratic rule — by the people, of the people, for the people.
Puerto Ricans, united as one people, took their country back from a corrupt governor. Continental Americans on the mainland, divided by a corrupt president, cannot do the same for America.
Trump told four congresswomen to go back to where they came from. He was ignorant of the fact that three of them were born in America.
In 1976, I moved to New York City from Hawaii. I was 25. To my relief, my skin color made no difference. I fit in. Unfortunately, in 2019, I’m no longer certain.
Trump, emboldened by 95 percent Republican approval, is against…the “other.”
That includes me.
And so I’m going home.
Millie Vierra
Issaquah
