The definition of “harm’s way” is a dangerous place or situation. That phrase came to mind because my son is starting seventh grade in Chicago Public Schools. My son and I have received our COVID-19 vaccinations; however, my concern is for his classmates, teachers and staff members who have not.
Although CPS requires its employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 15, except for those who qualify for an exemption, students whose families are anti-vaccination do not have to get vaccinated. And let’s not forget those too young to get the vaccine.
CPS employees who haven’t gotten vaccinated yet will have access to my son until Oct. 15. Yes, if they don’t get the vaccine, they will be terminated; however, they will have access to my son before then. Never mind news reports of an unvaccinated elementary school teacher who in May removed his or her mask to read to students and ended up infecting more than half of them. Those students infected others. The teacher assumed his or her symptoms indicated allergies. While the virus is spreading, no one should think they are exempt from it — vaccinated or not. In other words: Get tested.
CPS states there is nothing more important than the safety and well-being of its students. But it will not fully extend distance learning. Will CPS pay my son’s medical bills if he catches COVID-19 at school?
— Nina M. Moore, Chicago
Nostalgia for Capone?
The sale of Chicago gangster Al Capone’s personal items is certainly newsworthy — but worthy of a lengthy profile (“Own Capone”), complete with photos?
It mirrors the same hyperbolic coverage that journalists indulged in during that period of U.S. history.
This continuing conflation of a local thug into the “King of Chicago” obscures many facts about Capone: He wasn’t from the Windy City, and considered himself as American as apple pie (“I ain’t Italian. I’m from Brooklyn!”). He was mentored by criminals already well-established in Chicago, such as his right-hand man Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik. His so-called power was allowed to flourish because, as historian Giovanni Schiavo once said, “Capone didn’t corrupt anyone who didn’t want to be corrupted.”
Capone’s reign as a criminal leader in Chicago lasted only five years. The late professor Mark Haller called Capone “one of the most overrated gangsters in American history.”
When violent crime is currently tearing our city apart, why is Capone, who engaged in the same activities, treated as a nostalgic figure?
— Bill Dal Cerro, senior analyst, Italic Institute of America, Chicago
The true policy failure
The last few weeks have brought us harrowing news from Afghanistan, culminating in the loss of 13 brave service members and dozens of civilians to a cruel terrorist attack at the Kabul airport. There is certainly room for criticism of the manner of the withdrawal and the extent or absence of contingency planning. But I have been astounded in recent weeks as the same former officials, journalists and others who drove us into this and other irresponsible wars have felt justified in issuing proclamations suggesting that the withdrawal, and not the war, is the problem.
These same commentators make comparisons to our withdrawal from Saigon, as if that moment, and not the decades of bloodshed in Vietnam, was the foreign policy failure. This is the bottom line: Endings like this one, even if flawed, tragic or mismanaged, say more about the underlying endeavor and how futile it was than they do about the present moment.
We should not let the devastating images from our Afghanistan departure serve as a justification for hubris and misguided attempts at nation-building in the future.
— Abe Souza, Chicago
Offensive cartoon
As hospitals fill with the unvaccinated and overwhelmed medical workers again work against odds, how could anyone mock wearing masks? Yet that is what cartoonist Scott Adams did in his “Dilbert” strip.
That would no longer be allowed on diligent social media sites, and we should not find it screaming at us from this paper.
— Michael Rathsack, Park Ridge
Let them choose
Forcing a person to have something injected into his or her body is a violation of human rights. Give people honest information and let them balance the pros and cons. But let them make a choice.
It’s outrageous that we would be firing medical staff and other first responders who have been heroes working and risking their safety during the pandemic.
— Matthew Wilson, Brookfield
Join the conversation in our Letters to the Editor Facebook group.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
