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Letters
Firestone in Liberia — this is why critical race theory matters
Re “An empire of rubber and dashed dreams of Black prosperity in Liberia” (Ideas, May 27): Growing up in Akron, Ohio, we took for granted rubber as the city’s economic engine. We didn’t ask, nor were we taught, where it came from, on whose labor it was cultivated, or the human cost.
There is a lot of posturing about critical race theory. Moving past those unveiled and reductive attacks is the missed opportunity to understand economic history so often built on oppression and racism. The alternative is depth and nuance and consideration of paths not taken. . .
Battle is being waged for the future of the world
Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine has clarified my years as a military officer working with the Ukrainian armed forces, engaging the Russian armed forces, and conducting defense planning for allies at NATO headquarters.
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No need to shade Dylan
Lauren Daley’s reference to Bob Dylan in her piece on Neil Young’s Spotify protest, “The most Neil Young thing ever” (Ideas, Feb. 6), was completely gratuitous and contributed nothing to her article. I don’t know why Daley felt compelled to throw shade at Dylan, a Nobel laureate who has written some of the most iconic protest songs of all time: “Masters of War,” “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” to name only a few. There is no need to take down one person when extolling another.
Jain Ruvidich-Higgins
Quincy
How do you solve a problem like Eric Lander?
[White House science adviser] Eric Lander may not be a nice guy to work for, but it’s a shame we can’t find some kind of reprimand short of losing his considerable and rare gifts.
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An exclusive country club, and the others that rose as a result
After reading Mark Shanahan’s article “The (very) private club hosting golf’s most open event” (Page A1, May 29), I’d ask his readers to consider the history.
“Tribalism” at Jewish and Irish country clubs in suburban Boston did not develop in a vacuum, as he seemed to suggest. Those clubs exist because (and only because) of the historic xenophobia at older clubs like The Country Club in Brookline.
My great-grandparents were founding members of Belmont Country Club. Their intent was not to establish a country club in
order to exclude gentiles; their intent was to
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President Biden rode on a bike, had not-such-a-great fall
President Joe Biden fell off his bike last weekend because his foot got stuck in the pedal’s toe cage. Toe clips are an option bicycle racers use to deliver power to the pedals not only on the down stroke but also on the upstroke. One needs special shoes and instruction to use them without falling — certainly not the bike accessory for a 79-year-old. Is nobody looking out for this man?
Richard Cook
Waltham
Clarence and Ginni Thomas: a husband-and-wife controversy
It is somewhat retrograde to suggest that a husband controls the political beliefs of his wife.
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Too often unasked in abortion debate: What about the men?
What about the men?
What about the boys who bully their girlfriends into sex? The men who rape and molest girls? The men careless about condoms? The men who walk away?
Unwanted pregnancies begin with men. How dare conservatives threaten women with these abortion bans without a word about male responsibility?
Lea Sylvestro
Easton, Conn.
The invasion of the
bachelorette party
I can assure you P-town is still the gayest place on earth, and if brides-to-be and their besties want to come enjoy it, I say yaaaassss!
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Trust me when I say it’s annoying for everyone in a gay space out having a good time to have to listen to and watch the absurdity of a bachelorette party.
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I’m really hurt and amazed that in this day and age, women are still chastised for seeking out spaces they perceive as safe.
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Although I am sure that MAGA fans will point at President Biden’s fall from his bike on Saturday as a sign of his advanced age, my first thought was of Donald Trump trying to ride a bike!
Joseph Chamberlain
Lakeville
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The court must strengthen its recusal rules to ensure that justices cannot influence a decision based on their own, or their relatives’, political beliefs.
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She expects her opinion, however hyperbolically absurd, to be heard and answered.
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ADOBE
MANUEL BALCE CENETA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
establish a country club that would accept them as members in 1940s Boston despite their being of the Mosaic persuasion.
To be clear, I’m not in a position to speak of prevailing discrimination at TCC or any other club. But it’s a mistake to conflate the historic “segregation” at traditionally WASPy clubs like TCC with the practices of the Jewish and Irish clubs that were established as a direct result of that segregation many decades ago.
Abigail Cable
Boston
Dave J Hogan/Getty Images for ABA
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Disrespecting and/or demeaning others was standard and expected, learned by sweet incoming freshmen and encouraged by the rewards of increased status.
And now, a great scientist is brought low by his own hubris.
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PAVEL DOROGOY/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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DANIELLE PAQUETTE/THE WASHINGTON POST
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Design: Heather Hopp-Bruce Data: Karla Ovalle and Abbi Matheson
Design: Heather Hopp-Bruce
Data: Karla Ovalle and Abbi Matheson
Russia and China put US and its allies on edge
American and NATO policy has been arrogant and unheeding of all these realities and possibilities for half a century, and the West is now boxed into a situation I don’t think it can control. We will wait and see while we hope for the best.
GABRIELA BHASKAR/NYT
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