Letters to the Editor | March 31, 2025

Donald Trump’s recent crackdown on free speech should scare everyone. In the past few weeks, we have watched as people who have legal residency in the United States have been arrested by plainclothes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and taken to detention facilities without any due process of law. Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, and most recently, Alireza Doroudi, have all been detained by ICE without any charges filed. What do all these people have in common? They all spoke out about peace in Gaza.

Being an opinionated person is not a crime, and it should be alarming to everyone that our democratic norms are being so easily dismantled without so much as a whimper. Opining on a controversial topic doesn’t mean the government gets to bypass the due process of law that is entitled to every resident of this country. The fact that Trump and his band of thugs can do this with such ease is disturbing. The fact that so few of our leaders have said anything is shameful. Our elected officials in Philly and Pennsylvania should develop and publicize a plan to protect our people from being similarly stripped of their rights of free speech and due process. It’s beyond time for us to prepare for the worst when the worst is on our doorstep.

Fae Z. Ehsan, Philadelphia

I read with great interest the Sunday op-ed by Nitin Puri, associate professor of medicine at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, in which he reflected on lessons learned from COVID-19, now five years on. Reflecting on this virus that would ravage the world, leading to millions of deaths worldwide, and how he and his fellow caregivers “sprang into dedicated, compassionate action” to help treat the many. All while trying to come up with treatments at the onset of the pandemic, when no treatments or vaccines existed. All of us who survived this horrific virus should be thankful every day for all the selflessness shown by the well-trained, dedicated doctors, nurses, technicians, and other medical staff. What they have done and continue to do for all of us — dealing with all types of illnesses each day as part of their dedication to helping treat their fellow men, women, and children — is worth the praise.

Holly Allen Homka, Perkasie

On Tuesday, Pete Hegseth denied he was texting plans for bombings in Yemen using the Signal app. Beyond being incompetent and unqualified for the job of secretary of defense, he is now lying despite all the overwhelming evidence from his absurd war-planning group chat. A service member who mishandled information about our national security would be court-martialed and might end up in prison. If Hegseth is not held accountable for this unprecedented and embarrassing breach of national security and ousted from his position immediately, we are in undeniable trouble. In 1984, George Orwell wrote: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your own eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” Donald Trump, Hegseth, and more are putting us to the test, seeing how many lies they can feed us. Will the American public really continue to stand for this?

Jessica Sances, Philadelphia

MAGA Republicans say they want to make America great and promote patriotism, free speech, and thought. The question is, which America? As we watched in sadness and empathy the fires that destroyed a large section of Los Angeles, what we heard from Donald Trump and some GOP lawmakers was that federal funds would not be coming unless Californians adopted their way of thinking. Apparently, blue states are not America to them. Did President Joe Biden make a mistake in spending 80% of the infrastructure bill funds in red states? Should a Democratic administration ignore the next hurricane that ravages the coast of Alabama? If you only want to help those who will say and think as you do, how is that free speech? Who would be patriotic to a government that considers them unworthy of sharing the full rights and considerations of other Americans?

Mitchell Rothman, Merion

With $444 billion of its customers’ savings invested in coal, oil, and gas, Vanguard — whose headquarters are in the Philly suburbs — is the world’s biggest investor in fossil fuels. Science is clear that the carbon pollution from fossil fuels exacerbated the drought that caused the recent fires in California to get so big. A Vanguard spokesperson claims the asset manager takes a passive approach to investing. However, that doesn’t change Vanguard’s responsibility to secure its customers’ future. Investing hundreds of billions of dollars in fossil fuels is a recipe for unnatural disasters and economic insecurity. Vanguard says it’s concerned about its customers’ future, and those customers invest with Vanguard so they can have a secure future. But how secure are we as more and more of us are at risk because of Vanguard’s choice of where to invest?

George Lakey, Philadelphia

Recently, the Philadelphia Board of Education voted to reject the Early College High School charter application. Early College’s model — both college preparation and career technical education — would have given our city’s children a powerful weapon in the battle for educational equity. This decision has broad implications because it perpetuates a status quo that continues to specifically target and disadvantage our children at a time when we should be using every possible tool — including more opportunities to gain a technical education — to help them achieve their full potential.

As a leader in the building trades, I’ve spent my life watching Philadelphia rise brick by brick. But what’s the point of building a city if we’re limiting ourselves to the same policies that got us into the difficult and unacceptable position we now face? The status quo is our enemy, and our unwillingness to embrace a broader cross-section of educational options does a grave disservice to our student population. The numbers tell the story. Only 17% of fourth graders meet federal reading standards. Only 19% are proficient in math.

While Philadelphia’s elite students get into Masterman, Greenfield, or Central, we tell families in North Philly and West Philly to accept that only one in five fourth graders can do math at grade level. We ask them to wait patiently for modest upgrades while denying them access to new public charter options — schools that are culturally competent and responsive to their children’s academic, social, and emotional growth. To win this fight and give our kids the education opportunities they deserve, we need a diverse ecosystem of high-quality public schools — both district-run and charters that are held to the same rigorous standards of accountability. Every child deserves an education that meets their unique needs, not the one-size-fits-all approach that has been the failed battle plan for generations.

The board’s rejection of Early College High School wasn’t just a vote against a school — it was a tactical retreat that perpetuates educational inequality. I can’t accept that. Parents matter. Children matter. And their voices matter.

Ryan N. Boyer, business manager of the Laborers’ District Council, head of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council

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