Letters to the Editor | Sept. 23, 2026

I am in my eighth decade of life, and for those of my generation, John F. Kennedy’s emergence was a defining moment, as was the terrible day we learned of his assassination. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts became a fitting memorial to a president and first lady who believed the arts were essential to the soul of a nation. That is why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s association with the dismantling of that institution is especially painful.

Whatever one thinks of his political views or his tenure as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this betrayal strikes at something deeply connected to his uncle’s legacy and to the family name he inherited.

Someday, the history of the Kennedy family and its impact on America, with all its glory and all its suffering, will be written. When it is, RFK Jr.’s impact on both the health and the cultural life of the nation will be part of that history. Succeeding generations of Kennedys will live with the shadow his actions have cast over the family legacy, and that is profoundly sad.

Marguerite Sexton, Philadelphia, middlesistermag@gmail.com

I don’t understand why if you criticize the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza you are canceled for being antisemitic. You’re not considered anti-Buddhism if you criticize the Chinese government or anti-Orthodox Christianity if you criticize Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Why is it that you can’t criticize Israel?

Julio Casiano Jr., Philadelphia

As The Inquirer recently reported, no one has ever nominated the Academy of Natural Sciences building for historic protection. If it is sold unprotected, Philadelphia will have lost it by default, not by decision.

I lead a small K-8 school in Southwest Philadelphia. In less than a year, the city has reopened three public buildings within a mile of us: Paschalville Library, Kingsessing Recreation Center, and, last month, Myers Recreation Center, a 148-year-old former orphanage that took nine years and $27 million to bring back. Slow, expensive, and worth it. Children are in those buildings today.

The Academy is private; Drexel owns it. But a historic nomination is how the public gets a say in a private building. It won’t reopen the museum, but it will buy time to imagine the next civic use. The Preservation Alliance, or Drexel itself, should file one before the sale. A dinosaur hall is civic infrastructure, too.

Brandon McNeice, head of school, Cornerstone Christian Academy, Philadelphia

President Donald Trump’s decision to ban several news outlets from access to the White House is a further erosion of our civil liberties. The administration’s ongoing attempt to limit the ability of journalists to report the news reflects the trend toward a totalitarian state in which the only news available comes from the administration itself. And this administration has been notorious for presenting lies and deception, some of which are obviously disconnected from reality.

Trump’s aspiration to control all aspects of our government must not be allowed to continue. Not only is this a strategy of personal enrichment (he has made $2 billion since his second inauguration), it denies the individual freedoms our nation was founded on.

We need a president who upholds the rule of law and our American values, not a king who governs solely out of self-interest.

Mark Schenker, Blue Bell

Daniel Pearson’s recent Shackamon column was shocking. It called for a huge increase in police traffic enforcement. So is automated traffic enforcement now not enough? The city already tickets practically every vehicle that moves or is parked, so how much more would you like? Again, if there were best-practice engineering and enforcement, streets would be safer, and few tickets would be issued. Do you realize how many different types of tickets can be issued in Philadelphia now, and how many go out? It is staggering, but you want more? Why not address engineering?

James Sikorski Jr., Wapwallopen, Pa.

Amazingly, the New Jersey Department of Transportation thinks putting up some signs, clearing some brush, and adding additional guardrails are going to reduce fatalities on Route 55.

Perhaps it would be better if some time was spent verifying the real cause: the people driving on the road. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that speeding (I’ve seen drivers regularly going as much as 20 mph over the limit) and weaving in and out of traffic are the main causes. Add in tailgating by those who are doing five miles over the limit, and you have a recipe for accidents.

The highway needs greater enforcement presence to calm traffic.

Joe Palma, Swedesboro

President Donald Trump is set to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House later this week for a crucial summit.

Born and raised in China, I immigrated to the U.S. in 2008. I cannot return to China, and more sadly, I was unable to visit my parents before their passing 10 years ago. Why? Because I practice the spiritual meditation practice called Falun Gong.

In July 1999, the brutal persecution against Falun Gong was launched by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). At the time, I was a doctoral candidate at China’s prestigious Tsinghua University. For refusing to renounce my beliefs, I was arrested and then imprisoned for a total of five years in a slave labor camp.

Like many who have been arrested, I was subject to brainwashing, constant surveillance, humiliation, beatings, 30 days of sleep deprivation, and almost a year of physical isolation.

Falun Gong is the largest group the CCP has been trying to eliminate. In 2019, the independent China Tribunal concluded that Falun Gong practitioners are subjected to forced organ removal to supply China’s transplant industry.

I sincerely hope President Trump will address the persecution with Xi during the summit.

William Huang, Wynnewood

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