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Change the Cameron Park name. It’s an important first step.

Residents of Cameron Park, one of Raleigh’s most prominent neighborhoods, are deciding whether to change the neighborhood name. Many said it references a family that once was one of the largest holders of enslaved people in North Carolina.

Cameron Park

Having grown up in Cameron Park, I’ve been following the name change efforts. I find it absurd to hear the argument that the neighborhood wasn’t named after the Camerons, but was simply always referred to in this manner. If there’s a substantive difference there, I fail to see it.

If some white residents feel pulled to make this argument, I urge them to notice their defensive stance and ask themselves what the Cameron Park name represents to their neighbors of color.

People of color have made their stance clear. Anti-racist work is about listening and responding. Are those in Cameron Park who oppose a name change going to get bogged down in the details of defending their stance, or will they look around and notice how history weighs on the shoulders of those who’ve experienced marginalization?

No one ever said that changing the name was enough. It’s simply an initial step towards offsetting the burdens of our painful history.

Hillary Paul Halpern, Raleigh

Biden’s policy

I find it ironic that while the Biden administration just announced an extension of non-essential travel restrictions for Americans going to Mexico and Canada and will start next month requiring travelers arriving from Europe to show proof of COVID vaccination, it has allowed the surge at our southern border to continue amid reports that some immigrants are being released into the hands of U.S. charities untested and unvaccinated. Perhaps “ironic” is not the correct word to describe these conflicting policies.

Doug Aitken, Clayton

Vaccine refusal

A coworker recently confided that he felt discriminated against since refusal to get the COVID vaccine made him ineligible for our employer’s vaccination incentives.

It reminded me of smokers, who also miss out on employers’ healthy behavior incentives. In both cases, a personal choice creates significant health hazards for the individual and everyone around them. For both groups, health care and other societal costs fall mostly on others. For the unvaccinated, it includes the economic cost of prolonging the pandemic, which would collapse without them.

There are differences, though. Some vaccine refuseniks portray their choice as a stand for personal freedom, which ethically is like declaring that driving drunk is striking a blow for liberty. While no rational smoker denies the health risks, many unvaccinated people believe long-debunked disinformation.

Fortunately for us, our parents and grandparents had no such qualms about vaccines, which is why polio no longer stalks the land. Unfortunately for the next generation, the unvaccinated are keeping the pandemic from ever ending.

Ben Edwards, Chapel Hill

Tax credits

I have let my congressional representatives know that I support a permanent extension of the Child Tax Credit. I would also like to see the Earned Income Tax Credit made permanent, as well as providing at least $90 billion in rental assistance with a focus on Housing Choice Vouchers. Through anti-poverty programs millions can be lifted above the federal poverty line. The Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit changes put into place last March have already made a difference. It’s time to keep that trend going, permanently.

Patti Maxwell, Cary

The filibuster

In 1949, Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson famously noted that “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.” That should go double or triple for the filibuster, which is not even in the Constitution.

If Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to use it to default on the debt, blow up the global economy and destroy democracy in the United States, Democrats should have no compunction in carving out an exception for the national debt nor for abolishing it once and for all if that’s what it takes to ensure equal representation, fair elections and the right to vote.

Leo M. Sadovy, Wake Forest

Biden’s actions

President Joe Biden vows to punish U.S. Border Patrol agents for appearing to whip a Haitian migrant. Will he punish those responsible for killing 10 civilians in Afghanistan, including possibly seven children, with his drone strike?

Warren Sawicki, Fuquay-Varina