Silence no answer to neo-Nazi displays | Letters to the editor

My parents taught me that you are known for the company you keep. I’ve always kept that in mind when choosing friends and associates. I’m proud to say that the people in my life helped make me a better person. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Gov. Ron DeSantis.

When neo-Nazis demonstrated outside the entrance to Disney World last weekend, waving Nazi flags and hoisting signs for his presidential campaign, he was and is silent. Is this tacit approval of antisemitic white supremacists?

Nazis outside of Walt Disney World right now — absolutely disgusting. pic.twitter.com/WeXtRi3OSL

— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani (@AnnaForFlorida) June 10, 2023

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Rep. Anna Eskamani of Orlando denounced this disgusting display, but where was our governor? He was silent in January, after a similar incident. Alarmingly, extremism has been on the rise in Florida. DeSantis should make it clear in no uncertain terms that those who hold to the ideology of Nazism and hate are not welcome in his sphere — or he will truly be known for the company he keeps.

Shari Somerstein, Plantation

More dysfunction ahead?

The stage is set for more dysfunction in the Broward School District.

This time, Interim School Superintendent Earlean Smiley is tying children to more turmoil by jettisoning established leaders, bringing in iron-poor blood, and inviting Gov. Ron DeSantis to jump in as she is headed out the door. Students will be subject to political winds. Adults have forsaken Broward’s children for too long. The interim superintendent was brought back to stabilize leadership and operations while a search sought the best new superintendent.

The School Board hired an obviously incompetent search firm from Omaha that yielded little to write home about. The result was a rushed timetable where failure is expected. In business, when bringing a problem to management, one is expected to offer solutions. This enterprise is akin to the Titanic.

Barney Agate, Tamarac

The more things change

A reader (Mark Goldstein, June 10) takes comfort in the delusion that “the left forgot that Democrats were the party of slavery, Jim Crow and the KKK.”

He must remember that over time, the nature and makeup of people and parties evolve. His self-deception is dangerous. The makeup of Lincoln-era Southern Democrats was mostly rural as opposed to Republicans in the industrialized north. Southern Democrats needed to preserve the institution of slavery and keep Blacks in bondage to protect their privileged economic, political and social status. They railed against abolitionists, who were seen as northern, urban, college-educated elites.

Just as the Reagan-era Republican Party has morphed into the personal domain of a delusional populist, so too have Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats morphed into each other. Urbanized, college-educated elites are still abolitionists from the north, but they are today’s Democrats, whereas the old Southern racist Democrats are now Republicans needing to keep Blacks in bondage, through desperate and more sophisticated Jim Crow laws, to preserve their current privileged economic, social and political status.

The claim that Republicans “then and now were against slavery, Jim Crow and the KKK” is ludicrous in the extreme, with no foundation in reality. Systemic racism is the legacy of this Republican Party and Sen. Tim Scott shamefully attached himself to it. Promoting civil rights, minority rights, racial equality and gender rights are anathema to the fractured shell of what now passes for the once Grand Old Party.

Plus les choses changent, plus elles restent les mêmes. Quel dommage.

Translated: The more things change, the more they remain the same. What a shame.

John Kelly, Parkland

Sheer hypocrisy

Many say PGA Commissioner Jay Monaghan’s decision to sell out to the Saudis was the ultimate in hypocrisy. But that was just challenged by Donald Trump. Replays of the ex-president shouting, time and again, that classified information in his hands was absolutely safe and secure surely qualifies as the ultimate in hypocrisy.

But one case tops them both: Gov. Ron DeSantis, on an April trip to Israel, gave a speech at The Museum of Tolerance.

For sheer hypocrisy, nothing can top that.

Martin Kleinbart, Aventura