Graduation, nuclear bombs, WWII, and the zoo, the gorilla and the reaction

Make graduation memorable

Re “Black teen wearing African cloth pulled from grad ceremony” (Page 1A, May 28): Calling all high school graduates who have not had their graduation ceremony. Time to support one of your own. Here is your last high school assignment. Research your ancestors; choose a Maasai plaid, a Celtic tartan, an Asian silk, a Mapuche zigzag, or a Bedouin earth design. Make yourself a scarf and wear it to graduation.

Undecided? Choose African colors like Nyree Holmes did because we all came from Africa originally. If the administrators object, grab your mortar board and head for the parking lot for your own ceremony based on democratic inclusiveness, free expression, self-empowerment and a desire to honor your ancestors.

And invite Holmes to come. I guarantee it will be the most memorable graduation your school has ever known.

No one celebrates atomic warfare

Re “In Hiroshima, Obama urges ‘moral revolution’ ” (Page 1A, May 28): My favorite uncle fought on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The combined loss of men in both campaigns exceeded 100,000. Later, he was on a troop ship ready to invade Japan. He did not expect to survive that invasion.

No one celebrates the horror of atomic warfare, but neither should we apologize for it. It saved countless lives on both sides. If apologies are due, perhaps the Japanese should apologize for Pearl Harbor, the rape of Nanking, the enslavement of Korean “comfort women,” the slaughter of a million Philippine civilians, the horrible medical experiments done on allied prisoners at unit 731, and countless other massacres and war crimes.

I applaud the President Barack Obama for hugging a Hiroshima survivor. It would be nice to see the Japanese prime minister hug the last survivor of the Bataan death march.

Rid the world of nuclear weapons

It is especially important that the U.S., the country with more nuclear weapons than any other country, recognize the enormous destructive force of nuclear weapons, and commit to ridding the world of such weapons. President Barack Obama has joined with former President Ronald Reagan in acknowledging that we have a moral imperative to leave our children a world free of the threat of nuclear war.

Remembering my uncle in the war

Re “3 brothers reflect on WWII experiences” (Local, May 29): Bill Lindelof’s article about the Mitchell brothers made me recall childhood memories. I remember finding a small flag-like ornament at grandma’s house. It bore three red stars.

It would be decades before I learned their significance: one for my dad, and the other two for his brothers. Dad survived Omaha Beach, Normandy, the morning of June 6, 1944.

Anybody who saw “Saving Private Ryan” will understand the significance. One brother sustained severe wounds during a beach landing in the Philippines. The third brother survived the South Pacific intact. Another brother would later become a POW in Korea. He didn’t have a star.

We just celebrated my dad’s 92nd birthday and give thanks that he is still with us. My two uncles are not. One finally succumbed to his war wounds; the other to cancer. God bless them all.

Cincinnati Zoo did the right thing

Re “Grief over zoo’s killing of gorilla turns to outrage” (Page 1A, May 31): The callous attitude of animal activists toward a 4-year-old child and his parents after zoo officials killed the gorilla to protect the child is hard to understand. The zoo should be commended. Without their action the child would likely be dead.

I believe we should put those animal activists in that moat with a 400-pound male gorilla and see how they fare. No human’s life should be sacrificed or endangered to protect any animal.

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Graduation, nuclear bombs, WWII, and the zoo, the gorilla and the reaction."