Views in brief

Dirty, dangerous and unethical

I worked at UPS for seven years. I started out on the midnight shift, loading trucks. The pay rate was $8.50 an hour to start. The work was very hard to say the least, but I was good at it, and I thought it was fun for about six months.

I was constantly asked to do more, because I was fast. Eventually, I was moved to the day shift. Now, this may seem better, but what must be understood is that the inside of a trailer that has been sitting in 95-degree weather all day closed up, is very, very hot. That first summer, I lost an unhealthy amount of weight and ended up dehydrated. I had to get an IV to restore my fluids.

Soon afterward, I was "promoted" to a part-time supervisor. This was a significant pay increase, but because I am female, I was put into the training department. My supervisor did not allow me to work with the employees, as was supposed to be my job, but made me do all of his paperwork for him. After four-and-a-half years of doing my well-paid supervisor's job for him, I finally convinced another full-timer to allow me to run a belt. I excelled at managing, and my employees were loyal to me simply because I rewarded them and helped as much as possible.

So I was back in the trailers, loading. This is against union rules, by the way, but my employees were so overworked that they welcomed the help. UPS demands more and more and more from their employees. If you do well, they want you to do even more. It never stops.

Even though I was very good at my job, it was never good enough for the upper management. I was criticized, verbally abused, refused sick days. They would take my vacation days if I was ill. No joke. I was humiliated in front of my peers on the radio. Supervisors that were working there for only one year were making more money than me. I sustained an injury to my back that damaged my sciatic nerve, but was afraid to report it because it is always the employee's fault. I didn't want that stigma, that hassle.

Near the end of my time there, I found myself beginning to ask more of my employees, because my supervisors were pushing me to get better numbers. I hated myself for that. I couldn't take it anymore, so I finally left right before peak season 2014. Instead of going "postal," I left.

UPS drives people to do bad things. It is a dirty, dangerous and unethical place to work. They trap people with the insurance, and because of the union protection, they rarely fire people. I have friends who still work there and endure the abuse every day. When I left, I called a third-party ethics committee and reported all the abuses that I had witnessed and endured. The human resources department investigated my claims, but oddly, the main offender still works there. Nothing happened. It will continue for as long as people allow it. There are always people that need work.
Anonymous, Boston

We want justice for Kumar

I UNDERSTAND that you advocate and gain attention for victims of police brutality and overreach. There has been something troubling going on in my hometown of Cottonwood, Arizona.

On May 31, a young Native American man was shot six times and killed by a sheriff's deputy after fleeing from a routine traffic stop. He was unarmed. There has been some public outcry, and today is day 16 of protest. Those of us who support the cause just want to see the deputy be indicted so that a jury may decide if he was justified, and let the chips fall where they may.

His name was Ebin Lamont Proctor, known to his friends as "Kumar," and he was 18 years old. I am contacting you in the hopes of raising more awareness of the situation. If you are interested you can find out more at #justiceforkumar. It is a Facebook page we have started in the hopes of finding justice.

Thank you very much for your time. I hope that you find our cause worthy of attention.
Emerald Monroe, Cottonwood, Arizona

That flag belongs in the dustbin

IN RESPONSE to "They need to free Bree": Bree Newsome is the very best. We all love Bree now. The nation and the world are supporting her. Any website attempting to paint her as something other than the patriotic brave hero she is would be the work of an apologist for the Paleolithic set.

Regardless, the voice of the majority, those against the violent seditious message of that flag--the flag of traitors, not American heroes at all, but villains who did more harm to the country than Benedict Arnold could ever contemplate--will prevail. The traitors against the United States, those of the South who still fly their hateful flag, lost their war and fought against the truths we hold dear--truths we hold to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

The Southerners hated those words so much that they fought a war for their supposed right to enslave American labor, created an organized terrorist group of murder, burnings, and marches, and continued with over a century of mob lynching, chain gangs, and degrading segregation, voter intimidation and economic repression.

The flag representing their evil creed must be eliminated from the United States--it is the flag of the enemy within and should not be permitted, let alone promoted, on any government property. Its proper place is in a museum, alongside the captured Nazi flag. They are both examples of primitive violent disproven movements of mankind's past. They will remain in museums as warnings to future generations, who will someday marvel at the long evolution from the ape-like state once inhabited by humankind.
Mark Wagner, from the Internet

We need gun control

IN RESPONSE to "Charleston and the crucible of race and class": Something needs to be done about the rash of tragedies in recent years involving gun violence. The recent tragedy in Charleston just reveals how little has been accomplished toward that end so far.

Vigils for the dead and presidential pontification from the "bully pulpit" just don't seem to have much effect.

It has been my experience that it is impossible to change the thoughts, feelings or beliefs of those who do not wish to change them. Rather, it seems to me, there is a way to work to prevent repetitions of this ongoing series of tragedies--racially motivated and otherwise--this past decade or more, by restricting and/or removing access to weapons of mass destruction of which guns are a prime example.

Where is the call for immediate and effective gun control legislation? The majority of the public wishes it but our hapless, feckless government is paralyzed by its fear for its electability.

Hatefulness, contempt, prejudice and vengeful desires are ongoing, ever-present components of human nature. Pious preaching won't change that. But controlling the ability to act on those impulses is something we have a chance of effecting by concerted community action. How about initiating an effort to bring that about?
J.N. Cooper, from the Internet