To the Editor:
Re “Latino Americans Are in Crisis. Can Democrats Finally Get It Right?,” by Andrea R. Flores (Opinion guest essay, July 19):
The author is right that Democrats keep treating border security and legalization as opposing agendas rather than complementary ones. But the essay understates the stakes. This isn’t just a political miscalculation; it’s also a public health emergency, and the data prove it.
My research, published this month in The New England Journal of Medicine, documents the toll of the nation’s increasingly hostile climate toward Latinos: rising preventable suicides, increasing overdose deaths and a surge in hate crimes. These aren’t abstractions. They are measurable, and they are accelerating.
Here is the paradox at the heart of American policy: A nation whose economy and work force depend on its Latino population is simultaneously allowing hostility and aggressive ICE enforcement to erode that population’s psychological, physical and economic well-being. We are undermining the very people we cannot do without.
The essay frames legalization as a path to winning back votes. It is that. But it is also something more urgent: a way to stop a public health crisis already underway — one that will keep worsening until the nation reckons with a simple fact: Latinos are not a constituency to be managed. Nor are they outsiders.
They are indispensable to America’s future, and treating them as a threat results in harm to all of us and the entire nation.
Vincent Guilamo-Ramos
Washington
The writer is the director of the Center for Latino Adolescent and Family Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.
The Dogs of Summer
To the Editor:
Re “Technology Ruined Our Lazy Days at the Lake,” by Dan Kadlec (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, July 4):
You did not mention the dogs. Each family brings one or two. They scarf down each other’s kibble, as though it’s a special treat. The young ones run around with the children — the more laughter, the more barking. They retrieve balls from the lake for hours. Then they come to the living room, drop the balls and shake off the water. The dog towels crowd out all else on the clothesline.
One of them eats something bad on the shore. He lies around, listless, for several days, then recovers. All the dogs seem to learn from this.
The puppies watch carefully, preparing for next summer. The old dogs lie in the sun, tails wagging contentedly. There are more old dogs than when we were children, and each now has his own medicine organizer.
Apart from this, the dog scene has not changed much. Yes, children and dogs continue to make wonderfully memorable vacations for my own family.
Henry A. Lester
Pasadena, Calif.
Talking in Line
To the Editor:
“Travel 101: How to Wait in Line (and Keep Your Cool)” (Here to Help, July 18) missed one tip: Talk to the strangers you are in line with.
When in a long line, I turn to the person behind me, smile and say: “Hi, I’m that annoying person who talks to people in line. How are you today?”
People invariably laugh, we have a nice conversation, and the time goes much more quickly. No one has ever objected, but then I am 82, and when you’re 82 they let you get away with things.
Paula Hawthorn
Oakland, Calif.
Dressing Up for the Sabbath Is Special
To the Editor:
I read “Vanessa Friedman Answers Your Style Questions” (Here to Help, July 6) with great interest. She addresses the question of why dressing up seems to have lost some importance in our society, and she explains the ritual as a means to help “mark time and set moments apart.”
This is precisely why I, as an observant Jew, dress up each Friday night and Saturday to honor the Sabbath. Many Sabbath-observing Jews set aside their best clothes, shoes, headwear and jewelry for Sabbath wear. The act of dressing up sets the day apart from the rest of the week, makes it special and highlights its importance.
Thank you, Ms. Friedman, for your articulate explanation of dressing up as intentional and meaningful.
Marla Segelman
New York
