Convention plea should be made to Biden, not protesters

Convention plea should be made to Biden, not protesters

 

Regina Arndts letter ‘A plea to DNC protesters’ omits the critical reason why thousands of people will descend upon Chicago in 2 months to use civil disobedience to disrupt the Democratic Convention. 

 

They’re coming to confront President Biden and the entire Democratic Party’s support and enabling of Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. That genocide has left Gaza’s 139 square miles in rubble, with little food, water or medicine to keep Gaza’s 2,300,000 Palestinians not yet dead, well enough to live if they are fortunate to dodge Biden’s 2,000 lb. bombs. 

 

President Biden and his Democratic establishment will have only themselves to blame if he 2024 Chicago Convention makes the Vietnam War plagued 1968 version look like a walk in Grant Park. President Biden has 10 weeks to pivot from genocide in Gaza to peace and promote a pathway to Palestinian statehood if he wants a peaceful convention. 

 

Ms. Arndt and her like-minded fellow Chicagoans should direct their plea, not to demonstrators listening only to their conscience, but to President Biden, who may be listening only to his re-election polling. 

 

A plea to DNC protesters 

Regarding the letter from William Cory Labovitch (“Fears of destructive protests,” May 29), I would like to echo his plea “to please be respectful for those of us who are trying to have a chance of a lifetime to attend a national convention and support (Joe) Biden’s reelection bid” and to add my own heartfelt request. As a lifelong Chicagoan who’s not planning on leaving anytime soon, I would like to add, for any of my fellow citizens who feel the need to speak their mind via protests at the Democratic National Convention: Seriously, y’all, don’t make us look like a bunch of jackasses. Chicago’s got a reputation problem as it is — deserved or (resoundingly) not — but please, please, let’s not give the haters any more talking points, any more easily televised scenes of lawlessness and disorder. Speak your mind. It’s not only our right; it’s our obligation. But please, I’m begging you: no chaos, no mayhem, no weapons, no wreckage. They’ve — barely — stopped talking about 1968, after all.

Regina L. Arndt, Chicago