“CPD, KKK, IDF, they’re all the same,” the pro-Palestinian protesters chanted.
That’s the slogan that caught my attention when I stopped by to see the pro-Palestinian protest at DePaul University on Thursday morning after the encampment in the quad had been shut down. Dozens of protesters remained near a gas station on Fullerton Avenue across from the university chanting slogans against Israel and in support of the “intifada,” the Arabic word for uprising. Many of the people in the crowd wore keffiyeh scarves or surgical masks as they advocated a violent revolution against Israel, not a peaceful two-state solution. A line of Chicago Police Department officers stood between the crowd and traffic.
“CPD, KKK, IDF, they’re all the same.”
If the slogan had not also been printed on one of their signs, I might not have believed they were combining those three acronyms. The protesters were lumping together the Chicago Police Department, the Ku Klux Klan, a notorious hate group, and the Israeli Defense Forces, Israel’s military.
While the occurrence was not nearly as common as the lynching of Black people, American Jews were lynched simply for being Jewish in the South, some of them by the KKK. Today, the CPD and the IDF would both try to protect the Jews from such crimes.
That an angry mob is accusing the CPD and the IDF of being like the KKK is like some kind of linguistic trickery out of the George Orwell novel “1984.” It is similar to the way in which the protesters allege genocide against Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, and ignore that Hamas’ goal is genocide of the Jews.
One of the scariest things about the power of a mob, though, is that it does not care about the truth. Its power comes from its emotions and its greater numbers against a minority.
— Josh Singer, Chicago
DePaul should pay the bill
As a neighbor living in DePaul University’s neighborhood, I am glad that the Chicago Police Department was engaged to dismantle the DePaul encampment.
Now the city should add up the hours police spent and the cost of the helicopters that flew over the area for hours to assist in the efforts and send DePaul a bill.
If you can’t solve your own problems, the police will assist, but there shouldn’t be a free ride for an institution that pays little, if any, taxes to the city of Chicago.
— Jim Grossmann, Chicago
Expression of their conscience
Regarding his op-ed “What DePaul revealed about its pro-Palestinian encampment should be a wakeup call” (May 19), Jay Tcath is outraged “against the unauthorized, anti-Israel tent encampment” on DePaul University, where “the people professing to be peaceful demonstrators had amassed weapons — knives and a pellet gun.”
Students and young people all over the world are witnessing the genocide in Gaza committed by Israel with weapons supplied by the U.S. government. Students do not need authorization to protest Israel’s crime. That is their constitutional right, and it is an expression of their conscience. They don’t want to remain silent when Israel keeps killing women, children, journalists and medical workers and starving a traumatized population.
Those young and brave students from DePaul University were not an angry mob directing its vitriol at “anyone trying to walk by — Jewish or not.” Their anger is directed at DePaul. It is within their right to demand that the university divest from Israel or companies profiting from Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Being against Israel and Zionists does not mean that one is antisemitic.
— Idhan Tahirovic, president, Bosniak Brotherhood of Genocide Survivors, Schiller Park
Biodiesel for transit system
The proposed Chicago transit system overhaul cited in the recent Tribune article “Transit merger getting big push” (April 29) deserves careful consideration. The proposed Metropolitan Mobility Authority also presents a golden opportunity for Chicago to immediately improve public transit sustainability and lower emissions. How? By adopting cleaner-burning biodiesel to fuel buses, trains and support vehicles.
Made from soybean oil, recycled cooking oil and other renewable resources, biodiesel improves air quality by reducing harmful diesel emissions. Compared with petroleum diesel, biodiesel reduces particulate matter by 49%, hydrocarbons by 67%, and carbon emissions by 74%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. These significant reductions are why the American Lung Association has recognized biodiesel as a Clean Air Choice alternative fuel for years.
Air quality and the resulting health issues are major concerns in many of the Chicago neighborhoods and communities served by public transit. The transit system has an opportunity to immediately improve air quality and lower carbon emissions by transitioning from petroleum diesel to biodiesel.
Many policymakers and organizations suggest that electric vehicles are the only solution available to decarbonize fleet vehicles. But electrification is often costly, years away from widespread adoption and powered by a grid that is not decarbonized. Biodiesel, on the other hand, is a low-carbon fuel that is readily available today.
Fuel blends containing up to 20% biodiesel require no engine modifications or infrastructure, and performance is equal to petroleum diesel.
— John Benish Jr., president and chief operating officer, Cook-Illinois Corp., Oak Brook
Restore the Invest in Kids Act
I truly enjoyed reading the front-page article about moms and kids getting scholarships (“Chicago moms get scholarships with their kids,” May 12). One line in particular really stuck out, and that was how the Tribune phrased what April Kilgore-Wooden thought when she learned that her daughter’s school was eligible for the scholarship: “Immediately, she felt the opportunity was more than a free education — it could be life-changing.”
This parent, like every parent, understands the power of education. This is the same feeling thousands of parents likely had when they learned that their child was a beneficiary of the Invest in Kids Act, that their child had been handed an opportunity that would be “life-changing” for them. They were given a gift, a chance to get out of a failing school and into one where they could learn and thrive.
Parents knew the Invest in Kids Act worked, and so did the Illinois State Board of Education, which noted in its January 2024 report “Evaluation of the Invest in Kids Act: Final Report” that students who had been granted an Invest in Kids Act scholarship demonstrated a “significantly larger average increase in scale scores one year later compared to the average public school student.”
Lawmakers in Springfield took this this life-changing opportunity away from parents, children and families when they allowed the Invest in Kids Act to expire. They must give it back.
Springfield should be working for the people of Illinois. All students, regardless of age, have a right to a life-changing education.
— Charles Hutchinson, Wilmette
2045 is a long time away
Living in Evanston, I got a preview of Mayor Dan Biss’ “New vision for Evanston is focused on ‘yes in my backyard’ rules” (May 8) at a recent ward meeting at our Crown Center. This plan is to be achieved by 2045? Being 83, I resent projected predictions like this, including those concerning future environmental goals. We’ve no crystal ball, so it’s all based on everything falling into place with present knowledge.
Ever since COVID-19, this whole world is in flux, and if Donald Trump regains office, all our dreams are on hold. I won’t be here in 2045, and Biss might not be here also.
We have to be aggressive in what we do now!
— Fred Jay Wittenberg, Evanston
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.