Letters: Single-payer plan | Kids and racism | War of vengeance

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Legislators should OK
single-payer health plan

State legislators should pass AB 1400 or CalCare now to give all Californians the health care they need.

Obamacare is a big improvement in preventing insurance companies from denying health care because of pre-existing medical conditions, but some people still have no health care — for example, if they are low income, unemployed, in certain geographical, racial or otherwise marginalized groups — because insurance companies choose to maximize profit by not serving them.

If New York, like California, does pass universal health care, or a single-payer system as is now more likely, the increasingly necessary step away from the richest nation on Earth paying twice as much for the poorest health outcomes may become a thing of the past sooner than we hoped for.

Ruby MacDonald
El Cerrito

Never too early to talk
to kids about racism

On March 26, the administration at Kensington Hilltop Elementary informed community members of “a significant number of incidents in which derogatory slurs have been aimed at students and adults of color on our campus” and other racist incidents that “have caused pain and harm [… resulting in] a diminished sense of safety for many of our students and families at Kensington.” Moreover, “most of the incidents were observed by many other students, yet no one told an adult.”

It is never too early to talk to children about race and racism. A cursory search for information will provide many resources on how to do so in an age-appropriate manner. The targets of racism are not afforded the privilege of choosing the timing and character of such discussions. This most recent suite of racist incidents in Kensington is the perfect starting point for a discussion with children around the dinner table.

Aaron Schlosser
Kensington

Israel’s war seems like
vengeance, not justice

The Hamas attack on innocent Israeli citizens at a music festival last October was monstrous, sinister, heinous, evil and inhumane. As awful as that attack was it does not justify indiscriminate murder or imposing famine on innocent people. That is also inhumane.

Every reasonable effort should be made to bring those responsible for the October attack to justice. However, what is happening in Gaza now appears more like vengeance than the pursuit of justice.

Barry Gardin
Hayward