We the undersigned — and on behalf of 39 other individuals — are Buddhists affiliated with the Jodo Shinshu school of Buddhism, whose adherents in this country are largely Japanese-American.
Many of us were imprisoned in internment camps during World War II, most as children, in some cases without our fathers, (as is happening to some children today,) all this solely because of our ethnicity. Some of us were born in internment camps. Others have parents, grandparents, spouses, in-laws or dear friends who were interned.
Because of this, and because Buddhists believe that we must not wrong others, the prospect of more detention camps on American soil — camps for asylum seekers who had a legal right to apply for asylum for themselves and their children — is deeply distressing to us. The wrong that we suffered must never happen again.
Moreover, the refusal of the current administration to reunite forcibly separated children with their parents is cruel, and its plan to establish a special detention camp with military guards for “unaccompanied and separated children” is appalling, not only to Buddhists but surely to anybody.
We call on all of our elected officials to fully and unequivocally demand that the administration end these inhumane and discriminatory practices.
— Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Albany; Carolyn Kuroda Fernandez, El Cerrito; Diane Ames, El Cerrito
Join Saturday rallies against detention of immigrants
On Saturday, June 30, 300 people, young and old, rallied in Alameda, joining the national Families Belong Together day of action. Tens of thousands in more than 700 cities expressed their solidarity with the migrant and refugee children and parents forcibly separated at the border. We demand immediate reuniting of the families and an end to indefinite detentions — no kids in cages, no concentration camps, not in our America!
Until the inhumane “zero-tolerance” policies of the Trump administration are ended and all families are reunited, we will continue to rally. Please join us next Saturday (and every Saturday thereafter, for as long as necessary) from noon to 1 p.m. at the corner of Park Street and Santa Clara Avenue in downtown Alameda. We have signs. The children need you. Our humanity demands action. Thank you. When injustice becomes law, revolt becomes necessary.
— Ruth Smiler, Alameda
Dems fail to say how many people should be allowed in
We all know why many people who live in dangerous conditions in Mexico and Central America want to live in the United States.
While Democrat politicians spend their days lecturing, insulting and harassing those who support border security and a merit-based immigration law, they fail to discuss how many should be allowed in and what will it cost.
Democrats should be willing to go on record with the number of new immigrants they believe should be allowed to enter the United States and receive amnesty. Money is necessary to pay for temporary and permanent housing, food, clothing, schools, teachers, health care facilities, doctors, nurses, social services, police and firefighters.
Most cities are already cash-strapped. How much money will be required to pay for all this and where will the money come from?
— Bill Behan, Brentwood
Limit development, outside interests in Antioch area
We are sick and tired of out-of-town special interest groups coming into Antioch and trying to tell us what to do with our city.
These groups are trying to put a measure on the ballot to dictate what our city can and can’t do with the land out by Sand Creek. Our city leaders elected to represent us should decide if there should be limited development allowed in the area — not outside environmental groups who have no real stake in our community.
We support limited development in the Sand Creek area of Antioch as long as the housing is limited and pays its fair share for police, roads, schools, etc. We also want safeguards to protect trees and open-space areas for future generations. It seems to us that at some point the Antioch City Council will need to make a decision. We urge limited development and no outside interests.
— Marty and Nancy Fernandez, Antioch
Parking shortage, congestion threaten city’s retail base
Everyone knows that Walnut Creek has a serious parking problem that is getting even more crowded when downtown employees are taking more parking spaces designated for customers.
I have heard from many people that they are avoiding downtown Walnut Creek due to the congestion and poor parking. It seems other shopping areas like Veranda and the new San Ramon City Center Bishop Ranch are beginning to offer alternatives to Walnut Creek. The city of Walnut Creek needs solutions to our congestion and parking problems.
The continued buildup of apartments, retail shops and businesses is generating substantially increased traffic flows and the need for additional parking. One possible solution is to have all new development build additional parking spaces for customers AND employees. I suggest our city traffic engineers review traffic flows and consider one-way streets as a possible solution.
The downtown area is highly congested, meaning it is taking longer to drive from place to place. In addition, adequate parking is required for customers and employees. Everyone knows these solutions are not easy to find and implement, but they are desperately needed. I urge the Walnut Creek council to review these issues and work towards some solutions.
— Howard Geifman, Walnut Creek
Blaming Trump for shooting at newspaper is a stretch
The East Bay Times’ editorial on July 1 seems to be the liberal left stretching the shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis to hyperbole to place indirect blame on President Trump.
There was no mention of the already known facts behind the shooter’s motive except for one short sentence about his grudge against the newspaper. The rest of the editorial is full of rationalizations and feeble attempts at flawed cause-and-effect analyses, and the result is a fake conclusion directing blame at the wrong person. If the editorial had stuck to facts — as it states, “to us, facts matter, deeply” — then the total narrative of the editorial would fall apart due to internal inconsistency.
About 90 percent of the reporting on Trump’s administration has been negative or untrue. This is the context in which the president labels such reporting by those media outlets and journalists as fake news and the enemy of American people.
— Kirit Shah, Fremont