Regarding the editorial “Council opponents of Brandon Johnson policies are the ‘new Vrdolyak 29? Please” (Aug. 8): The Tribune Editorial Board and other individuals upset about the comparison to the shameful days of Ald. Edward Vrdolyak should consider that they did not “fall out of a coconut tree.”
Ald. Danny Solis was making harmful decisions for communities in the 25th Ward until 2019. I stood with the families in my community to oppose his organization’s corruption and racism that displaced thousands of Latine families and nearly destroyed Chinatown’s small businesses. We kept our communities safe and were called obnoxious and pugnacious by those in positions of institutional power while we did it.
This very newspaper now faces a lawsuit from several employees alleging racial discrimination, with reporters of color earning significantly less than their white colleagues.
This editorial board acknowledges that the last time a sitting mayor was obstructed from choosing his own leadership team in the council was during the Council Wars in the 1980s, when Michael Madigan, Edward Burke and Solis were entrenched in the Democratic Party. These men were directly in power until 2021, 2023 and 2019, respectively, and their proteges continue their legacy today — with no interruption of a period of truth and reconciliation that could credibly show that the racism that drove them and their enablers up until at least 2023 was firmly left in the past.
So can the modern Vrdolyak opposition to Johnson be fairly categorized as “honest policy disputes”? Unlike disgraced former Zoning Chair Solis, I am an economist and have a background in the private sector. My practice of building coalitions and reaching out to business leaders and elected officials across the political spectrum is well documented by the political reporters in this city. Is the problem that I voluntarily refuse to accept political contributions from developers?
This is the age of accountability. As our next president, Kamala Harris, said, “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” No outside entity chose the council leadership for Mayor Richard M. Daley, Mayor Rahm Emanuel or Mayor Lori Lightfoot, nor was any newspaper editorial board openly publishing their preferred choices. The only legacy of this audacious level of disrespect in our city was under Mayor Harold Washington. I see it and many of my fellow council members of the global majority see it as well.
No one now advocating for this suspect institutional shift under Johnson is entitled to the silence of those who witness it.
— Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez, 25th
Board unfair to Sigcho Lopez
It’s fine for the Tribune Editorial Board to editorialize against Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez calling Mayor Brandon Johnson’s aldermanic opponents “the new Vrdolyak 29.” But did it occur to the editorial board that it was engaging in derogatory characterization of Sigcho Lopez?
Announcing Lopez as “socialist” in the editorial is clearly intended to discredit him before the board even delves into his inflammatory rhetoric. Conservative readers in particular will view the “socialist” charge as a tell that Sigcho Lopez is not a good person, much less a worthy alderman.
But the editorial board goes further to discredit Sigcho Lopez. “The 25th Ward alderman, who has made a name for himself by, among other things, inveighing against Israel’s war against Hamas while standing in front of a charred American flag, repeatedly has employed this objectionable terminology to refer to colleagues who happen to think differently from he and the mayor.”
What is objectionable is interpreting the U.S.-enabled Israeli genocide in Gaza as “Israel’s war against Hamas.” Some 40,000 Palestinians dead, most of them civilians, en route to possibly hundreds of thousands dead from disease and starvation, is not “a war against Hamas.” It is genocide. The displacement of more than 75% of Palestinians is not “a war against Hamas.” It is genocide. The destruction of nearly all hospitals, schools and water treatment facilities, making sustainable life impossible, is not “a war against Hamas.” It is genocide.
And it isn’t Sigcho Lopez standing near a charred American flag that is disgraceful. It is President Joe Biden besmirching the American flag by forever associating it with Israeli genocide in Gaza.
The Tribune Editorial Board’s mantra appears to be: Do as we say, not as we do.
— Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn
Celebration but no reflection
The annual cacophony of the Air and Water Show, which serves as a weekend-long promotion for the military industrial complex, is upon us once again. Literally billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars go into the research and development of military aircraft, which are in reality weapons of destruction that kill civilians globally in our name. The Air and Water Show allows Chicagoans to hear the last sounds people across the world hear before they are eviscerated.
A moment’s reflection would allow the people cheering lustily for this insanity to realize the billions that go to weapons dealers could be better spent on feeding the poor and better funding our schools.
But better they remain as ignorant of that as they are of all things done in their name.
— Edward David Juillard, Chicago
Our fighter jets protect us
As one of my favorite weekends arrives — the Chicago Air and Water Show — I am reminded of the irony that there will be protesters at the show.
What will they be protesting? As they say each year, they will claim that the show is a commercial for our military and for war.
But what they don’t realize is that those fighter jets (the “war machine”) help protect their very right to protest their own government. In much of the world, local officials would never allow such protesters. Protesters would be banned, or worse, killed.
Yet here, because of these powerful machines, they are protected. A beautiful Constitution with beautiful rights doesn’t mean much without the backing of Uncle Sam’s muscle when needed.
Bring on the roar.
— Jean DuBois, Naperville
Olympics not a medal race
I am loving the Olympics. I will the underdogs to pull from behind and clap in celebration of top achievers. I’m happy, patriotic and proud. Until I’m not — when the medal count is announced like a leader board, as if it were breaking news.
An American superiority shows itself when broadcasters highlight the number of golds Americans have and others, not as many. I am disappointed to see the achievements of only top athletes, with little consideration of those who have considered just making an Olympic team to be their gold medal.
The Olympics are not a medal race. The Olympics are a spirit, an idea, of personal bests and records, of competition and camaraderie, and of respect. I smile to think of the countless friendships made among the athletes and the shoring up of crevices that dominate our now-splintered world.
This country should remember the Olympic Games as a portal to where we find joy and success among all athletes, humankind, not a gateway to our own arrogance with a continuous update of a medal count.
— Nancy Chadwick, Glenview
Give the athlete his due
It is disappointing that Thursday’s sports section had no mention of one of the most inspiring performances of the Paris Olympic Games. Kenneth Rooks, who has been running steeplechase races for only three years, finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase race — coming from behind in fantastic fashion to almost take gold and finishing second to all the best in the world.
He displayed guts and intestinal fortitude that we haven’t seen in an underdog like this. Sure, we make glory of all the favorites winning their gold medals, but it would be nice to hear a story about Rooks, who was a huge underdog in this event and virtually unknown by Olympic standards. A lot of glory by news outlets was given to Quincy Hall, who also had a fantastic comeback worthy of mentioning, but he won gold. Why don’t we give accolades to those who won silver in fantastic fashion?
Chicago, the second city, the city of second chances, you dropped the ball by not mentioning this silver medal winner.
For that matter, NBC did not even have it on its late show. Its journalists were too busy celebrating with members of the U.S. figure skating team from 2 1/2 years ago, who were just given their gold medals after a doping scandal involving the Russian team, surprise surprise.
For those who did not see the steeplechase race, please watch it and see for yourself if it was worthy of being mentioned.
I dare you not to be inspired by Kenneth Rooks!
— Michael Weinberg, Deerfield
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