Letters to the editor

Lessons from 1969
We arrived in Worcester in 1969 and found an active movement against the Vietnam War.
Our family joined a rally in front of City Hall in September. At the end we were invited to join leaders of the local African American community in a protest against the building of Plumley Village, which had destroyed the surrounding neighborhood. 
We marched up Main Street, then out Lincoln Street, to the headquarters of the State Mutual Life Insurance Co. There we found that impressive building protected by a shoulder-to-shoulder line of state and local police, with very large dogs, and squads of reinforcement in the rear parking area. A few young men pushed against the police line and were arrested before a young local African American leader suggested we disperse but insisted we would be back some day to “take down that building brick by brick.”
Antiwar protests continued, but local issues like Plumley Village and the painful memories of that lost Laurel-Clayton neighborhood were swallowed up in what we took to be larger problems of war and injustice. We were not very successful in resolving those questions; many are still there. Local leaders, including that brave student from 1969, continued their democratic work for community fairness and solidarity. 
Today, as big issues of war and justice again seem overwhelming, let’s listen to one another and find ways to work together to be sure that none of us allows differences to be smothered by the threat of armed men and angry dogs.
David O’Brien, Holden, Professor Emeritus, College of the Holy Cross
Understanding process of peace
Nov. 22 marked the 61st anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination. In the last year of his presidency, Kennedy took extraordinary steps in the direction of world peace. His commencement speech at American University on June 10, 1963, was unlike any we have ever heard from a president of the United States.
What did Kennedy say?
He said that world peace is “the most important topic on Earth. … What kind of peace do I mean and what kind of peace do we seek?
“Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by weapons of war — not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave … a genuine peace … grow and to hope and to build a better life for their children — not merely peace for Americans but peace for all men and women — not merely peace in our time but peace in all time.
“Is not peace, in the final analysis, basically a matter of human rights — the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation — the right to breathe air as nature provided it — the right of future generations to a healthy existence.”
If we want leaders who work toward security, they must understand the peace process. This rests on understanding and demanding it of our representatives. I urge readers to listen and share the speech to contribute to a true peace process.
JFK’s entire peace speech here: https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-university-19630610
Susan Serpa, Worcester
Death of Uncle Sam?
If anyone ever doubted the truth of the expression “less is more,” getting a stark 16-second message from a revered friend after the recent presidential election will banish all doubt. Indeed. Needless to say, the man was deeply distressed. Yet since our relationship has always hinged on extended bouts of phone tag before every actual conversation, I have had little recourse but to leave a message of condolence and plan to send a card.
It feels like a death in the family. Is it Uncle Sam? The bald truth is half of the country is more or less bullish on the coming months while the rest of us are concerned as hell. Speaking of which, concern, even terror, was expressed by the narrator Ishmael aboard Herman Melville’s whaling ship. After seeing Captain Ahab grow crazed trying to capture the elusive Moby-Dick, Ishmael wondered: “Shall we be towed by him to the infernal world?”
Some questions are just timeless. And I’ve just discovered the term “postelection stress” is trending. One piece, for example, carried a radio interview with Dr. George Everly, a specialist who tended to post-9/11 trauma. In it, he wisely suggested no one abandon his or her happiness to uncertainty. I’ve got to help my friend, and myself, remember that.
R. Jay Allain, Orleans
Ideas to improve WTRA
Worcester needs a transit system that makes commuters and other travelers want to leave their cars at home or in a commuter lot at the edge of the city and ride the bus. More and more people are living and working here and there is no way to get around the city easily. As a rider, I see these needs:
We need commuter lots at the edge of the city so that people coming in from the suburbs can park their cars and shuttle into the city. Service could include targeted pickups in the morning and drop-offs in the late afternoon and evening. We need more people riding and less people driving.
Ruth Shortreed, Worcester
Well done, ‘deplorables’
Really?  A second term for him?  The country has surely gone mad!  Have you learned nothing from his first term and all the bile that spews from his mouth every time he talks?  What about all those disgusting promises he has made?  It’s absolutely amazing how many ignorant people there are in this country!  Remember the mess he left us in last time?  Evidently not!  Congratulations to all the “deplorables” who voted for him and have doomed our country for the foreseeable future. 
Scott Vottiero, Millbury
Why Harris, Dems lost
The reason Kamala and the Democrats lost so badly is not because they didn’t make the middle class seem heard.  It’s because their policies of growing government bigger and bigger at all cost hurt the middle class tremendously by causing inflation we hadn’t seen since the ’70s. 
Their “We know better and will tell you what to do” attitude on everything from green to DEI to favoring the rights of fringe classes over most people in the middle hurt them. 
Appeasing every dictator around the world led to two major wars that could have been prevented by a stronger approach. 
Defund the Police and Black Lives Matter resulted in a tremendous increase in crime by releasing criminals back into the very same communities that they said would benefit.
Kamala claimed to be different from Biden but wouldn’t say how. 
She and the Democrats were repeatedly tone deaf and got what they deserved.  God bless democracy!
Joe Considine, Westborough