Why does reader F. Cordell find it controversial that legislators and clergy should tell the police how to do their jobs ("Why do legislators think they can tell police how to do their jobs?" June 11)?
Isn't that what lawmakers are elected to do? Elected officials pay the police with taxpayer funds from the people they represent. Taxpayers should have a say in how police do their jobs through their elected representatives.
As for the clergy, they too are called on by their parishioners to speak on their behalf on such matters. Indeed, the clergy might well be more responsive than the politicians in Baltimore City.
Judging from the turnout in recent elections it would appear that politics simply don't interest many city residents. But the same can't be said of religion.
There are as many as 1,000 houses of worship in Baltimore City, whose geographical reach is only 92 square miles. That's an average of nearly 10 clergy per square mile.
Unlike politicians and police officers, the clergy is not on the government payroll. Clerics who felt no obligation to speak truth to power in the aftermath of the recent unrest following the death of Freddie Gray might be mindful of heaven but they are of no earthly good.
Could it be that clergy has been speaking out against social injustice in Baltimore City for some time now — and that no one was listening?
Paul R. Schlitz Jr., Baltimore