Why did we not learn about this Arizona atrocity in school?

Re “Losses to Indian Boarding Schools,” Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, Arizona Republic:

Such an important piece! Please follow up with an article on the details of the horrible treatment of Indian children in these so-called schools. Describe the indoctrination and motivations of the so-called redeemers. Identify the culprits and “churches” involved, those who defamed their beliefs as “Christians.” Let’s tell it like it was.

This was done in my lifetime, and it lasted for years into my adulthood. I had no knowledge of this ongoing tragedy then. I was never taught about it in school. Those responsible need to be named and held accountable. If they are ashamed, all the better.

This information is a wake-up call. We will either teach the truth or we will be subjugated, suppressed, dominated and indoctrinated as we witness the demise of our democracy.

Arleen Lorrance, Scottsdale

Remember Horne's work in 2026

Tom Horne has been an incompetent disaster for Arizona schools. 

Whether it’s the voucher fiasco that resulted in replacing the person running it, the sudden yanking of funding for school improvement or for schools with high poverty populations, or his absurd parent hotline — which has yet to provide a single example of a school teaching critical race theory — Horne has shown he can’t run one of the most important departments in our state government.

In fact, he seems more interested in scoring political points than managing the department he was elected to. Witness his getting a Scottsdale parent to sue a district her kids aren’t even in because he doesn’t like that district’s dual language program. 

Unfortunately, Arizonans are stuck with Horne for two more years. But come 2026, we should show Horne the door before he inflicts more of his incompetence on our school kids.

Mike McClellan, Gilbert

Wolves roam to survive. Let them

A Mexican gray wolf family has been peacefully occupying the western slopes of the San Francisco Peaks and the Kendrick Mountain Wilderness. There’s no need to move them, except that their presence symbolizes a change that the agencies have been adamantly resisting: allowing wolves to wander north of the Interstate 40 boundary.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department claimed last month in these pages that it is committed to conversations about “What’s best for the wolf and what’s best for the recovery program. What’s the best way for her to contribute to recovery?”

This assumes that humans know better than she does. It belies their fixation on dictating the terms of wolves’ wildness, and of second-guessing the fact that she’s already found a good place on the landscape and is contributing to recovery in the way that comes naturally to her: by surviving.

The department likes to insist on strict adherence to the concept of “historic range,” and to keeping wolves within it. But wolves live in the present and face an uncertain future.

It’s time for the agencies to adjust to the reality that the wolves — and the best available science — say it is time to let them roam.

Greta Anderson, Tucson

The writer is deputy director of Western Watersheds Project.

Build power for Arizona, not California

I just finished reading Gov. Katie Hobbs’ position piece on the need for more high voltage power lines, and it sounds like a windfall for everyone — except the ratepayer.

If you need to better understand it, take a look at your electric bill. The majority of it is taxes, fees, losses, adjustments, and in some cases contributions to help people who can no longer afford their bill.

If building power lines to California and New Mexico were such an amazing idea, Ms. Hobbs wouldn’t need to write op-eds for it.

More letters:I called 911 to report a wreck. No one answered

Renewable energy is not baseline power generation. There is no guarantee this energy is going to be available when we need it.

Build baseline gas and nuclear generating capacity locally to meet Arizona’s needs. In doing so, we lose less power in transmission and maintain an electricity mix that is appropriate for us.

Fortify Arizona’s baseline and peaking generating to serve Arizona industry and communities. Leave the power lines and “renewables” to the birds and out of state energy companies.

Barry Soben, Phoenix

LGBTQ+ community is under attack

The MAGA-captured U.S. Supreme Court is mounting attacks on LGBTQ+ Americans. President Biden’s Supreme Court reform proposal can help stop them. 

After former President Trump locked in the court’s supermajority, the justices turned back the clocks on our freedoms, recently declaring that some businesses could discriminate against LGBTQ+ patrons.

We have seen the Project 2025 playbook to further unleash discrimination and read the court’s paper trail to dismantle marriage equality. We know the pain we have already endured is just a preview if this court is left unchecked.  

The president’s proposal reminds us there is a path forward. We ask our elected representatives to fight for us by heeding his call to reform the court.

We know what happens when that call goes unanswered. We have lived it. And we cannot go back.

Michele White and Michael Fornelli, Phoenix

What’s on your mind? Send us a letter to the editor online or via email at opinions@arizonarepublic.com.