It’s a real shame that there are three strikes against Latino communities in the U.S. Census, as Marlen Garcia wrote on Friday.

1. As Garcia notes, a race-ethnicity streamlined question that most people have historically skipped is followed by a confusing follow-up question of origin that naturally creates doubt and uncertainty.

2. There’s a “perception of deportation“ consequence, which discourages Hispanic families from filling out the census.

3. There’s the timeline ticking for door-to-door services, in Spanish, for those that don’t mail or complete the census form online. Will the deadline get extended because of the pandemic or not?

Froy Jiménez, Pilsen

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Destroying Postal Service will destroy the nation

At what point will the destruction of our free society be stopped from the abject ignorance of this White House and Republicans? The U.S. Postal Service apparently has to be destroyed so as to further the privatization of every governmental agency and complete the Republican mission of destroying any semblance of a government that serves others. This would destroy the economy and the nation.

Edward Juillard, Morgan Park

Get money to people who need it

We would all like for the crisis to be over. But we are all trying to take care of ourselves. That includes President Donald Trump. Only in his case, taking care of himself means boosting his chances of re-election. So, while Dr. Anthony Fauci and the other experts are telling us to “keep our foot on the gas” with social distancing, the president is telling us we might go back to normal.

“Normal” is not going to be like December or January just past, not for a very long time to come, if ever. It is going to take at least a year or two of watching the arc of this disease to really understand it. Will it keep going at low levels, repeatedly returning as MERS does; return in Spring and Fall as the 1919 flu did; or annually as we are used to with the flu we already produce vaccine for each year?

The other big element of this crisis is the economy. Everyone is justifiably stressed about it. Republicans in Congress are trying, yet again, to foist trickle-down economics on the nation. Yes, businesses need help, but consumers, individual people, are the base of the economy and they are in need in far greater numbers. They are what has kept the economy chugging along, to Trump’s delight, from Amazon down to lottery tickets at the local quick stop.

So get money to those people who need it and let it “bubble up” as Nancy Pelosi described it. People need to pay for rent, mortgage, utilities, clothes for their growing kids, and, most basic of all, food and household supplies. People will buy birthday presents and garden supplies at Home Depot. All that spending will generate local tax revenue.

Too many people struggle to make ends meet even when working multiple jobs, and too many people do not have access to complete healthcare. That failure has a huge negative impact the quality of our society and on the economy. The student debt that too many are saddled with is also a drag on the economy.

Address these issues that will make a long term difference at the same time that we put money in the hands of people who desperately need it. That money will help keep the economy moving, and we can start moving forward working the structural problems.

Michael Hart, West Ridge