Readers React: The dignified way for Elizabeth Warren to respond to Trump’s bigoted ‘trail’ and ‘Pocahontas’ taunts

To the editor: One of President Trump’s only gifts is his ability as a bully to find a soft spot in his enemies, give it a demeaning name and engage in ongoing ridicule. (“In a racist tweet, Trump treats the genocidal Trail of Tears as a laughing matter,” Feb. 11)

Maybe Trump and the Republicans have gone one step too far with allusions to the Trail of Tears in relation to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign. If that’s the case, then this is the time for Warren to mount an effective campaign to put this to bed permanently before it wounds her the way 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry was hurt by the Swift Boat “controversy.”

Your article points out that Warren never sought or received advantage from claiming Native American heritage. At the worst she is guilty of believing a family tradition. Here is someone justifiably proud of what she thought was her heritage; Native Americans should embrace her for that.

Bob Walter, Altadena

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To the editor: Sadly, too few voices are heard about the hatred being spewed unceasingly from the White House.

How America has devolved so much in a mere two years is beyond comprehension. It just illustrates how much bigotry and anger was simply under the surface waiting for permission to emerge.

I fear there is no turning back and everything that was good about America is rapidly disappearing, never to be seen again.

Judy Brooks, Sherman Oaks

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To the editor: In his blatant insensitivity, Trump has inadvertently exposed the systemic white supremacy that this nation was built on.

It began with the Doctrine of Discovery that empowered Christopher Columbus and drove the devastating settler colonization of this continent. The details have been carefully edited out of the sanitized version of our nation’s history that most people are taught.

As a Seneca-Apache man of faith, a veteran and a retired business owner, I am grateful to be a tax-paying citizen of this great country. But it is far from perfect.

Harold Printup Jr., Mar Vista

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To the editor: Columnist Michael Hiltzik clinches it when he writes, “Racism, whether wielded against black, Hispanic or Native American individuals or groups is the American sickness, and to avoid calling it out is shameful.”

Let not the American media make light of these horrific tragedies.

Lynda Obershaw, Pasadena

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