PUBLIC SERVICE
The U.S. Postal Service is a service of the government and written into the Constitution (“Congress must act to pull USPS back from the brink,” June 26). It was never supposed to make a profit and should not be privatized. It’s the only government agency that is required to pre-fund its retiree benefits to the year 2056, at the cost of $5 billion a year. Keep in mind that USPS gets no funding from the government, nor subsidies. The revenue is all from postage, delivery fees and rentals of PO boxes.
Steven Phillips
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
NEEDS TO SERVE ALL
The postal service is required to deliver to every address in the country, regardless of location. Private delivery services are not required to do so, so they don’t. There are many areas they refuse to serve. So no, the service would not be better if USPS were privatized.
Deej Dambrauskas
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
IT’S SOCIALISM
These guys want a socialist dictator (“The rule of law is king,” June 19). Zohran Mamdani is the prime candidate. If he gets the nomination, they should move to New York City and get what’s coming to them.
Steven Lucas
Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes
AVOID STEREOTYPES
The irresponsible use of poetic license in today’s media has moved far beyond storytelling – it now distorts public perception and reinforces lazy narratives. Television, film and journalism too often recycle the same caricatures of Black men: criminal, broken, dangerous or pitiful. These portrayals are not reflections – they are projections, carefully curated to fit a script that sells outrage more than it reveals truth.
Yes, we see the crime statistics – but let’s expand the data. According to the U.S. Census Bureau and Department of Justice estimates, there are over 20 million Black men in America. The overwhelming majority of us are law-abiding, hardworking, family-raising citizens. Criminal behavior is not representative of our population – it is an isolated, independent and exclusive sample. Yet the media persists in making it appear normative.
I am writing this because I continue to see so-called leaders attempt to define us or describe us, without ever speaking to us. Too often, their goal is not truth, but fundraising. They outsource our community responsibilities to government programs and nonprofits while presenting themselves as intermediaries. This tactic keeps problems alive to secure grant dollars, not to solve anything.Â
If you want the perspective of a real Black man, walk into any professional institution and speak to one. His pants are not sagging. His voice is not raised. He does not smell of marijuana. And he’s not quoting movie scripts as if they were historical texts. He is composed, competent and quietly leading in ways the media and advocacy machines refuse to acknowledge – because he doesn’t fit the profitable image of dysfunction.
We are still here. We are still striving. And yes – we still find most of what we see and hear about ourselves to be ridiculous. As one voice among many silent Black men, I assure you: we don’t need rescuing. We need recognition for what we’ve already built and continue to sustain.
The narrative hustle only works when the audience stops thinking. I urge your readers to re-engage their minds, question the scripts and seek voices not pre-approved by sensational headlines or political agendas.
Kelvin D. Coburn Sr., author, The Silent Black Man
Chatham
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2025.
