Hits and Misses
The three months since the coronavirus restrictions began have been long ones for individuals who rely on libraries for books, DVDs, music or other items. Libraries across Pennsylvania closed in mid-March, and, in this part of the commonwealth, instituted only curbside service at the end of May. So it has to be counted as good news that Citizens Library will be reopening its building Monday. Sure, the hours will be limited, patrons will be restricted to just a half-hour inside the library, and parts of it will be inaccessible. Still, the fact that Citizens and other libraries are carefully reopening their buildings has to be taken as a marker of progress as we slowly inch back toward normality.
The notion that employers would be allowed to fire someone solely based on their sexual orientation or gender identity is hard to fathom, but it was open to debate until the U.S. Supreme Court decisively ruled this week that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does, in fact, protect gays, lesbians and transgender individuals from employment discrimination. Justice Neil Gorsuch, appointed by President Trump, wrote the majority opinion that “an employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex.” Now, it’s time that similar protections are accorded to LGBTQ people in other areas, such as housing.
The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh announced last week that St. Patrick School in Canonsburg will be shuttering at the end of the month, the latest in a series of closings and mergers of schools, churches and parishes within the diocese. The closing is undoubtedly a source of sadness for the legions of people who were educated at St. Patrick since it opened 66 years ago, but the coronavirus pandemic and declining attendance have delivered blows that proved to be fatal. Projections had it that in the 2020-21 academic year, fewer than 100 students would have been enrolled at the school. Keeping the St. Patrick School open would not have been at all feasible. Fortunately, students who had been enrolled at the school will have the option of continuing to receive a Catholic education by enrolling at John F. Kennedy Catholic Elementary School in Washington or schools in the South Hills.
The Aunt Jemima brand of syrup and pancake mix has seemed archaic for decades, since its imagery is drenched in stereotypes of minstrelsy and the smiling, compliant African-American servant that were outmoded more than a half-century ago. Finally, on Tuesday, Quaker Oats announced that it would be consigning the character and brand to the dustbin of history, acknowledging that its 19th century origins were “based on a racial stereotype.” In the wake of Quaker Oats’ announcement, the companies that control the brands for Uncle Ben’s rice, the syrup Mrs. Buttersworth and Cream of Wheat, with the image on its boxes of a smiling black man in a chef’s uniform, will be reconsidered. No one should feel demeaned when they are at the grocery store, and there’s no better moment than this one to make these long overdue changes.