This is not about politics. It’s about being humane.

Politicizing public health

It’s called being humane

When do we stop politicizing everything, acting like Nero playing the legendary fiddle as Rome burned? Politicizing is a game of pawns. We can’t afford that game. It is not amusing. It is wasting precious time, as our country financially, socially, and medically crumbles out of control, the object of the world’s pity. While we fret about winning, we’re losing. Winning is having a peaceful existence, because everyone is equally important in receiving good education, training, safe shelter, livable wages and preventive medical care. Don’t call that socialism, communism or fascism. Call it being humane.

Darlene Dickson, Tampa

The Negro Leagues Baseball

Remember the Negro Leagues

June 27 was the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues with no mention in the Tampa Bay Times. Tampa has a rich history of ball players who played in the Negro Leagues, such as the late Walter ‘Dirk’ Gibbons, Bob ‘Peach Head’ Mitchell, Billy Felder, Raydell ‘Lefty Bo’ Maddix and Clifford ‘Quack’ Brown, to name a few. Brown, who will turn 90 later this year, is the last surviving member of the Philadelphia Stars.

Buck O’Neil came from humble beginnings in Sarasota’s Newtown neighborhood to play for the Kansas City Monarchs and later become the first black coach in the major leagues.

Former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama were among those who are tipping their caps in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Negro Leagues. The presidents joined a host of luminaries taking part in the “Tipping Your Cap” campaign to pay tribute to the Negro Leagues.

Neil Armstrong, Tampa

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kneeling for George Floyd

Did you kneel for them?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., center, and other members of Congress, kneel and observe a moment of silence at the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall, June 8, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington, reading the names of George Floyd and others killed during police interactions. [MANUEL BALCE CENETA | AP]

I’m assuming everyone saw where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kneeled down in honor of George Floyd’s death. I was just wondering if she ever did the same for all our policemen and policewomen who have given their lives for the protection of our citizens.

Jackie Stout, Brooksville

Why would Europe want American visitors right now? | Column, June 26

This doesn’t feel ‘great’

My family is in Denmark, and now I can’t use my thousands of dollars in future flight and cruise credits to visit them because the European Union is concerned that I come from a “failed state” and may infect them with the coronavirus. We live to travel and have been to 115 countries and seven continents and never told we were not welcome. This does not feel “great.”

Tony Leisner, Tarpon Springs

Freedom during a pandemic