“It can’t happen here,” is the phrase that’s been spoken in many towns and cities across our country for so many years. As we watch random acts of gun violence playing out in schools and shopping centers, stores and churches — wherever we are — we can no longer think it can’t happen here (“Hawaii public schools may need to prepare for shootings, says head of state board,” Star-Advertiser, May 25).

How many parents now are fearful of sending their kids to school or to the supermarket? Or fearful of the family going to church?

There are too many people who want the U.S. to be a white Christian country. There is so much hatred, disinformation and polarization. More violence seems inevitable.

Added to all this is the anxiety, fear, uncertainty, even despair and depression in the light of what’s playing out in the world: the climate, pandemics, poverty and injustice.

We are clearly in for a rough ride, even here in Hawaii where we are fortunate to have so many people of different races who have figured out how to get along (mostly).

May it continue.

The Rev. Bodhi Be

Haiku, Maui

Help young boys grow into successful adults

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have about had it with mass shootings. I started my day with reports of elementary school children and a teacher shot to death in Texas. This is not what the Second Amendment is about, and we all know it.

What can we do? Shake our heads? Thoughts and prayers? Take a look at the shooters? Yes. They were pretty much young males. I can’t recall a female mass shooter.

It’s hard to grow a man; there is a lot of pressure, a lot of responsibility. Sending yourself to prison for the rest of your life relieves all of that. Someone else puts a roof over your head, clothes you and feeds you. It’s like social suicide instead of the real thing.

Concentrate seriously on helping boys grow up. Help them to see how to navigate the path ahead successfully.

Ann Beeson

Chinatown

Politicians must put children over their jobs

Would it make a difference? If the bodies of all 19 gunned-down elementary school students, with their bloody gun wounds showing, were transported to Washington, D.C., where all the members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and the president were required to spend time silently looking at each of these murdered children —would it make a difference?

Would they experience a depth of empathy and compassion that would lead them to pass laws that would prevent such horrid crimes in the future?

Would they do so even if it meant losing their jobs? And would their successors follow their courageous lead? I pray they will, for the sake of all children.

William Metzger

Manoa

Hawaii needs Hu Honua, energy independence

I was gratified to see the Star-Advertiser set aside special-interest rhetoric and misinformation propaganda about the Hu Honua bioenergy facility on Hawaii island (“Hu Honua can fit in energy future,” Star-Advertiser, Our View, May 16).

We must localize control of Hawaii’s energy future to avoid the devastating effects of climate change and Hawaii’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Firm renewable biofuel energy projects like Hu Honua are essential to independent energy resources. With solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric added together with biofuels, we expand our energy portfolio to benefit everyone statewide.

The Legislature has recognized this by passing Senate Bill 2510, which integrates support for alternative energy resources. It is the most positive step toward energy independence.

To meet Hawaii’s goal of a 100% renewable energy grid by 2045, we need Hu Honua and its biofuels, and SB 2510 to be signed and implemented.

Neil Abercrombie

Governor of Hawaii, 2010-2014

Hire local residents for public leadership posts

Recently the state Board of Education and the Honolulu Police Commission had second-place candidates for superintendent and chief, respectively, who are from the mainland U.S. (“Interim superintendent Keith Hayashi chosen as permanent leader of Hawaii public schools,” Star-Advertiser, May 20; “Retired Maj. Gen. Arthur ‘Joe’ Logan is named new Honolulu police chief,” Star-Advertiser, May 24).

Local public school teachers and police officers sacrifice better wages and a lower cost of living by choosing not to move to the mainland. When state and city leadership positions become available, I think candidates should be limited to local residents.

To possibly choose a nonresident for a state or city leadership position is to further disincentivize local public school teachers and police officers to remain here. Shared sacrifices and local experiences are valuable leadership qualifications that cannot be replicated by nonlocal candidates.

Jennifer Chiwa

Makiki

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