During my last three years as vice president of Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, I have had the honor of representing some of the finest human beings and greatest firefighters and paramedics on this planet. I have been fortunate to witness extraordinary acts of courage, kindness and selflessness. For this and many other reasons, I am a lucky man.
Additionally, I have been humbled to witness the crushing heartache of widows and children, the agonizing pain of loss and post-traumatic stress of firefighters and paramedics, and the utter helplessness and regret of parents who have buried their sons, in the wake of the six line-of-duty deaths suffered by the Chicago Fire Department since April 2023. These firefighter deaths inspired truly incredible acts of kindness and generosity from Chicago’s citizens and beyond.
In these tragic and challenging times, these kind acts provide me with hope.
However, when we recently suffered the tragic loss of firefighter Michael Altman, I could not have been more disappointed, and frankly infuriated, by the Tribune article “CPD questioning man in connection to blaze that killed firefighter” (March 19).
I delayed my response to Caroline Kubzansky and Sam Charles’ article. I wrote several versions. Each time, I would hold down the backspace key and delete my incensed tone and some of the colorful adjectives I utilized to describe the reporters’ choices for reporting the death of a young husband, father and son during his efforts to save others from danger.
A scathing rebuke would only make me feel good and certainly would not encourage contrition from the Tribune or its writers. This would precipitate more of the vitriol that sows seeds of division in our country. To the reporters’ intent, I say, “Be better.”
Be better at reporting the news to Chicago’s citizens. Be better than kicking a family in mourning while they’re down. Be better than the sensationalist rags that are sold in the supermarket checkout lane. Just be better.
If the Tribune cannot find the story in the tragic events of a young, dedicated firefighter perishing in an arson fire while searching for victims to rescue, maybe leave this story for the journalists who managed to treat the victims of this story with dignity.
— Erik Steinmetz, vice president, Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2
Distracting from heroism
I am extremely disappointed in the Tribune in regard to its reporting of firefighter Michael Altman’s death. The young man and his family have served Chicago for decades in the Chicago Fire Department, and Altman sacrificed his life for Chicago.
Was it necessary to bring up a story from a quarter of a century ago regarding a scandal that created a family tragedy, during another family tragedy? Dredging up old news degraded Altman’s heroism.
— Jim McGuire, Niles
Pluralism is our strength
Pluralism means welcoming people of diverse identities while nurturing cooperation across those differences.
The Founding Fathers built a political and civic architecture based on pluralism, the first of its kind in human history. They created the world’s first large-scale experiment in diverse democracy grounded in religious freedom, and they were very intentional about including Muslims.
Thomas Jefferson reverently studied the Quran. Benjamin Franklin built a hall in Philadelphia where, as he said, “if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service.”
We Muslims not only belong in American society; we also make great contributions to it. While we are only 1% of the broader population, we account for approximately 5% of the nation’s doctors.
Americans of all religious faiths, including those with none at all, should be proud of our pluralism and look to strengthen it, rather than calling it a lie.
Strengthening pluralism means:
1. Learning to appreciate people’s diverse identities and welcoming their many contributions. Beyond condemning Islamophobia and other forms of religious prejudice as repugnant, we must tell positive and accurate narratives about diverse faiths and help Americans understand our nation’s traditions of religious freedom.
2. Nurturing cooperation between diverse people. Consider the friendship between University of Connecticut women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers and her teammate Jana El Alfy as a model. Bueckers, a devout Christian and gay woman, woke before 5 a.m. to prepare breakfast so El Alfy, a Muslim from Egypt, would not have to observe Ramadan alone during last year’s tournament.
3. Building institutions that can hold our differences. Pluralism is the container that holds together people of diverse identities and divergent ideologies. James Madison embedded this genius into the Constitution: In our life as citizens, people with different beliefs must share power and therefore work together.
Pluralism is thicker than tolerance. The United States — the world’s first large-scale experiment in a diverse democracy — was built on the conviction that religious difference can be a source of cooperation rather than division. That includes Muslims.
Muslims not only belong in America; we also help make America what it is.
Pluralism is not a lie. It is the American tradition.
— Eboo Patel, founder and president, Interfaith America
The pain of prejudice
I celebrated Eid last week with mixed feelings. Symbols in the lobby of the Advocate hospital where I work and a few other public places such as the Seattle airport warmly welcomed Ramadan. It felt good.
Then came the attack on Iran, with the resultant manufacturing of consent. And there is a sharp rise in brazenly racist pronouncements.
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama posted a picture of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and called Muslims the enemy “inside the gates.” Florida U.S. Rep. Randy Fine posted, “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,” and Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, called for “no more Muslims immigrating to America.”
Republican leadership didn’t reprimand these blatantly racist remarks. House Speaker Mike Johnson, when questioned about the rhetoric of one congressman, brought up the canard of a movement to impose Sharia law in the U.S.: There is “a lot of popular sentiment that the demand to impose Sharia law in America is a serious problem — that’s what animates this,” he said. Who is imposing Sharia law in the U.S. and how? Johnson did not elaborate. Dog whistles serve their purpose.
The most deafening silence is from President Donald Trump, who has never explained why, in 2016, he said, “Islam hates us,” and who is busy bombing a Muslim-majority country while taking money from rich Arab states.
When it comes to Islamophobia in our country, there is a clear blue state-red state divide.
It is a tale of two countries.
— Dr. Javeed Akhter, Oak Brook
Dolores Huerta’s sacrifice
As a self-proclaimed bleeding-heart liberal and a social Democrat, I admired Cesar Chavez immensely for what he did for farm workers. Even though I did not grow up in the United States during the farm workers’ struggle, I followed their history once I moved here. Chavez and Dolores Huerta are as familiar to me as leaders of my own country who fought for independence from British colonial rule.
And now this. It is so sad to learn that a man who fought for the rights of poor workers is alleged to have stolen the freedom, honor and dignity of his most trusted colleague, Huerta, and young girls.
But once again, we learn that in the end, it’s women who keep it all together. Based on what I have read, Huerta suffered through these indignities only because she believed in the cause and kept the struggle of the United Farm Workers alive and away from scandal. I admire and respect her for the commitment to the cause, but my heart is filled with sorrow for what she hid, endured and lost.
It is such a timely lesson for journalists, writers and influencers of this generation. Let’s keep digging into the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and find those perpetrators, no matter how powerful or “hero-like” they seem today.
Let’s not have more Huertas wait for their justice until they are 95 years old.
— Shehla Khan, Lombard
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