To honor Vice Mayor Bowen’s legacy, let’s recommit ourselves to speaking up | Opinion
In memoriam
In moments like this, words feel painfully insufficient.
Nancy Metayer was more than an elected official: she blazed a trail, she was a servant leader and a proud daughter of the Haitian community who broke barriers as the first Black and Haitian American woman elected commissioner in Coral Springs.
She carried her role with grace, conviction and a deep commitment to the people she served. Her presence was powerful and purposeful.
Today, we grieve not only the loss of an extraordinary leader, but also the loss of a woman deeply loved as a light in her community. The weight of this tragedy is made even more unbearable by the circumstances surrounding it. It reminds us that behind closed doors, pain can exist where we least expect it.
As someone who has long stood in this space for more than 25 years through my annual “No More Broken Hearts” Domestic Violence Workshops, I am reminded once again that domestic violence does not discriminate. It does not recognize titles, achievements or status. It is a silent crisis that too often ends in irreversible loss.
Let us honor Nancy not only in memory, but in action. Let us recommit ourselves to speaking up, reaching out and standing in the gap for those who may be suffering in silence. Let us create communities where safety is not assumed, but ensured, where love does not harm and where no heart has to break in isolation.
To her family, friends, colleagues and all who knew and loved her, please know that you do not grieve alone. We stand with you, we mourn with you and we will carry her legacy forward with purpose.
No more broken hearts.
Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall,
M-DCPS Board member,
Miami
Hope and injustice
The March 31 Miami Herald had two important articles on the front page. One featured the new Holocaust Museum on Miami Beach, the other about “Alligator Alcatraz.”
I wonder who else noticed the connection and the irony of it?
John Saviano,
Miami Beach
Slow down
While I’m sure multiple municipalities are enjoying the revenue tsunami from school zone tickets, it reads like a new unvoted tax and incredibly punitive.
Why not make the first ticket a warning and, if repeated, then institute the penalty?
Bruce Shpiner,
Pinecrest
Scapegoats
No matter how much his supporters validate all of President Trump’s lies, dreams and self-enrichment, when it’s time for criticism, he will throw them under the bus. Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi are just the latest examples.
“Teflon Don” will keep finding someone so desperate for power that he will use them until it becomes politically expedient to dump them. Good luck to the new fools who fall for the power grab.
Art Young,
West Kendall
Idol of ego
President Trump’s planned presidential library and museum tower reportedly will dwarf the surrounding Miami skyline, including the adjacent Freedom Tower, which would appear to be only a fraction of the size of the Trump monument. The symbolism, contrast and scale could not be more appropriate: a towering monument to ego standing beside a symbol of freedom. Trump’s presidency versus peace. His presidency versus love, truth and decency. In that sense, the building will serve a valuable purpose — not as a tribute, but as a cautionary tale. An ever-present, not-so-subtle monument to the ongoing struggle between ego and humility, division and unity, truth and misinformation; a reminder of what happens when leadership becomes self-worship. I am certain this monument will say more than its builder intended.
Mayree Morin Fernandez,
South Miami
GOP’s obsession
While there is much to rebut in the April 2 op-ed by Froma Harrop, “Hey Democrats: Trump knows your weak spots,” one comment stands out. The writer states that President Joe Biden’s “low point” was announcing that he would appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court. President Ronald Reagan stated in his campaign for office that he would appoint the first woman to the Supreme Court.
Was that also a “low point”?
After all, according to the writer’s logic, it “excluded… men from a candidate pool.” In another comment, the writer contends that Democrats have an “obsession on transgender issues.”
Really?
Democrats are not the ones making outrageous, false and harmful allegations against LGBTQ persons. Democrats do not see a transgender “menace” in every restroom, classroom, or sporting event, nor are they attempting to make them second class – if not criminal – citizens.
Democrats, for the most part, see LGBTQ persons as human and wish them well in their pursuit of the American dream. Scot McCluskey,
Davie
Public perception
I thank the Miami Herald for having reporter Julie K. Brown on its payroll to write her informative articles. I hadn’t known about her work until I saw her on Katie Couric’s podcast.
I learned more about the Jeffrey Epstein case and it seems that Brown was at some risk. The Herald has become an additional news source for me thanks to its reputation.
Melissa East,
Centennial, CO
Truth revealed
The Miami Herald’s March 31 editorial, “ICE numbers reveal an inconvenient truth for Miami,” effectively laid out many of the problems with the Trump administration’s immigrant deportation policies. However, there was one glaring omission.
The entire focus was on undocumented immigrants. No mention was made of the hundreds of thousands of legal and documented immigrants, such as TPS holders, who have had their legal status pulled out from under them.
This administration is not anti-illegal immigrant; it is anti-immigrant.
Rev. Frank J. Corbishley,
Coral Gables
Affront to exiles
My mother, Teresa Bunbury, left Cuba, her native country, to escape communism. She was grateful for the U.S. government’s assistance and support given through the Cuban Refugee Center. In return, she volunteered at the Center and later, she worked there full-time. She enjoyed her work helping other arriving Cubans.
The Center eventually closed. Even when empty, the building became a cherished symbol for those in exile and a reminder of its importance for future generations.
That its history and value to the community will be minimized by an enormous building honoring someone who has never lived in Miami nor made a significant contribution to the city, is a shame. Shame, also, on those who gave away this valuable land to an undeserving president who does not care about Miami or its history.
Wouldn’t Palm Beach be a better choice for his “legacy?”
Cecilia Sanchez-Galarraga,
Coral Gables
Moon and beyond
What a great day to wake up and be a public school teacher on the day of NASA’s historic Artemis II launch, which will take four astronauts on a mission to orbit the moon. Teachers in neighborhoods from Homestead to Highland Oaks continue to light the imagination of our students and build their curiosity about space exploration.
Classrooms have added their names to the flight; STEAM lessons have been included and students are engaged with artifacts and replicas of past missions, including space shuttle patches, video clips of Apollo missions, lunar and planet dioramas. We cultivate our future astronauts, scientists and researchers by building connections to their future.
I have been a proud Miami-Dade County Public School teacher for 32 years. I doubt I’ll be in a classroom when the first habitable moon pods open, but my students will have a love of learning about science exploration that started in my Sunny Isles Beach school classroom.
Katie Prelaz,
Miami