Opinion | The Buffalo Bills Italian slur should be bumped off -

Every week, The Post runs a collection of letters of readers’ grievances — pointing out grammatical mistakes, missing coverage and inconsistencies. These letters tell us what we did wrong and, occasionally, offer praise. Here, we present this week’s Free for All letters.

I am a lifelong Washington football fan, having rooted for the Redskins since the 1960s and now the Commanders. I supported a name change from “Redskins” once I understood the ramifications when I started thinking about it in the late 1990s. My team isn’t in the playoffs this year, but I love to watch and very much like the Buffalo Bills.

However, I recently stumbled across the “Bills Mafia” [“Snow doubt about it,” Sports, Jan. 16]. There’s even a “Mini Mafia Kids Club” for fans ages 6 to 14. I cannot believe this is condoned by either the Bills or the National Football League.

My mother’s parents emigrated from Italy in the early 1900s, and I consider myself Italian American. I have studied Italian culture at length the past five years, as we have considered spending more time in Italy in retirement. “Mafia” is not endearing to any Italian American. Per Wikipedia, it is “used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of disputes between criminals as well as the organization and enforcement of illicit agreements between criminals through the use of or threat of violence. Mafias often engage in secondary activities such as gambling, loan sharking, drug-trafficking, prostitution, and fraud.”

The only positive quality about the Mafia is that members take care of their own, much like the Bills fans wanting to help each other and their players.

The term “Redskins” is likely offensive to many Native Americans. However, the term “Mafia” is akin to the term “Nazi” — both groups would be flattered to have someone using their name for something good. There is no chance Buffalo’s team would endorse the “Bills Nazis” or the “Mini Nazi Kids Club,” but “Mafia” is just as bad. The only reason it has not been challenged is that most Americans think “Mafia” is cute, as portrayed on “The Sopranos.”

Change it to “Buffalo Bills Brothers” (Triple B) or something else.

Jeff McCartney, Richmond

Joy in Mudville

I was absolutely stunned and very pleased when I turned to the Jan. 17 Sports section and saw, above the fold, a photo of cyclocross racer Zoe Backstedt and the article “Racing in the rough.” I have been to the Flanders region of Belgium, and the article was right on target about the country’s passion for cycling, despite the all-too-often cold, wet and dreary weather. The article also painted a vivid picture of the “Mantle vs. Maris”-like competition between “van der Poel and van Aert.”

Steve Van Rees, Bowie

An end to the age-old old-age shunning?

Kudos to Lincoln Peirce for the recent “Big Nate” series in which Nate and his grandparents toured a senior living facility. That was the first time I’ve seen this topic addressed in almost 50 years of reading what used to be called the funnies.

Perhaps this, together with the Dec. 24 Business article “Aging in America,” about living options for those over 85, will usher in a new beginning for how our society views this life chapter: using love, openness and humor to address collectively the opportunities and challenges associated with elder care, rather than our current model of each family figuring things out as best as we can on our own (with most then fearing we’ve done it “wrong” in some way). “Big Nate” and The Post helped multiple generations feel seen in this topic.

Pamela Ehrenberg, Washington

He just can’t wait to get on the road again

In his Jan. 20 editorial cartoon, Michael Ramirez forgot to include former president Donald Trump as the driver of the truck. Trump, as The Post has noted, increased the debt by nearly $7.8 trillion, one of the largest percentage increases in federal debt in U.S. history.

Susan Clark, Annandale

Michael Ramirez should be reminded that political cartoons are funny only when they contain a kernel of truth. In his Jan. 20 editorial cartoon, he depicted President Biden kicking a can in the path of a (admittedly very well-rendered) truck labeled “National Debt.” I would expect Ramirez to be aware that it is Congress that controls the budget and that is “kicking the can,” and that the bulk of the debt is something Biden inherited (in particular, from his immediate predecessor).

It is an unwritten understanding that those with the privilege of making their living through political art should contribute to the conversation (with a right-wing slant if they desire) but not peddle fantasies. If Ramirez cannot agree to this understanding, perhaps he should stick to just drawing trucks.

John Spitzak, Arlington

No, you’re the nice guy

I have enjoyed the “Doonesbury” comic strip for a long time. The strip’s creator, Garry Trudeau, has a knack for highlighting the quirks of everyday social and political life in the United States. The Jan. 21 strip was particularly telling.

The strip depicted a caller to a radio show, perhaps former president Donald Trump, who attributed his own unacceptable behavior to others, which psychiatrists call “projection.” Trudeau illustrated Trump’s actions with several examples, such as lying and being a sexual abuser and a fraudster — allegations that Trump leveled against others. This reminded me of an incident in my own life decades ago when I complimented a neighbor with “You are a really nice guy.” He responded to the compliment with a saying in Persian, which translated to something like “I am but a mirror; you are seeing yourself in me.” That’s what projection is all about. Some people attribute to others what is true of themselves.

Trump’s utterances accuse others of behaviors that effectively mirror his own. For example, his baseless claims of a deep state show that he is projecting his own behaviors on others. As the New Republic aptly reported in October 2020, “The Real Deep State Is Trump.” Such a portrayal in “Doonesbury” is not merely satire but a poignant reflection of reality.

Vinod K. Jain, Ashburn

At least the humor was dry

I had only one in-person experience with Charles Osgood, but it was very much in sync with the personal qualities described in the excellent Jan. 24 obituary, “Wry and witty stalwart of CBS’s ‘Sunday Morning’” [Metro]. And it occurred some 47 years ago.

In 1977, there were reports that the mothballed SS France, among the last of the world’s great ocean liners, was about to be sold to a Saudi millionaire. Osgood was assigned by CBS News to do a feature piece about another legendary liner, the SS United States, which itself had been mothballed for several years. The once-proud passenger ship, still holder of the record for the fastest transatlantic crossing by an ocean liner, was in layup at the Norfolk International Terminal.

As a young information officer for the U.S. Maritime Administration in D.C., I was dispatched to Norfolk to link up with Osgood and facilitate his access to the ship, which by then had become the property of the federal government. We met dockside as a nasty winter storm was starting to make itself felt — a cold, driving rain that was just beginning to transform into sleet and snow. We quickly introduced ourselves and, accompanied by security guards, inspected the once-elegant dining room, several staterooms and the bridge, all of which revealed the fact they’d been hastily abandoned: scattered cutlery, rumpled bedding and open nautical charts.

Osgood was enthralled by it all. He insisted his cameraman get a closing shot of him on the ship’s open deck, even as the wind howled and the rain pelted him. After several takes, we ran for a waiting car and headed for the airport. On the way, Osgood laughed and said: “You know, with the exception of a small area on the front of my shirt, I’m soaked through and through.”

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We soon found that our flights — his to New York and mine to D.C. — were delayed by the storm, so we made our way to the bar to pass some time. When the waitress delivered the first round to our table, she slipped and fell forward, with her tray of beers cascading directly onto Osgood, saturating his shirt and tie. After righting the mortified waitress and repeatedly assuring her that no harm had been done, he turned to me with a wry smile and said quietly, “Well, that was the last dry spot on my body.”

Geoffrey Vincent, Arlington

Staining Woodrow Wilson as a neo-Confederate is a lost cause

Sarah Lewis’s Jan. 15 op-ed about the symbolism of now-removed pro-Confederate windows at Washington National Cathedral, “The Washington National Cathedral’s new windows on history,” might have left the impression that the tomb of President Woodrow Wilson was meant to be part of that symbolism. Although the cathedral’s dean at the time of the tomb’s placement was a grandson of Wilson’s, the Rev. Francis B. Sayre Jr., there is no evidence that Sayre, a civil rights advocate, intended to link the tomb with the windows.

Moreover, to link Wilson with the Lost Cause mythology is wrong. Though born in Virginia, he was the son of parents who had recently moved there from Ohio, and he spent his college years and nearly his entire adult life in the North.

His racial views were those of a White Northerner of his time: impatient with and indifferent to racial injustice but not sharing most White Southerners’ obsession with race and eternal vigilance against any perceived moves to loosen the shackles of total white supremacy. As president, Wilson did not begin the practices of segregation in the federal workplace and downgrading of Black employees. Those began under his Republican predecessors, particularly Theodore Roosevelt. Wilson did not himself initiate the experiment in formal segregation but did turn a blind eye to the continued discrimination against Black employees — practices that continued unabated under his Republican successors in the 1920s and only began to abate gradually under the New Deal.

Wilson issued a public denunciation of lynching in 1918. Among Whites of his time, he should be viewed in, to use that currently maligned term, “context.”

John Milton Cooper Jr., Washington

The writer, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, is the author of several books on Woodrow Wilson, including “Woodrow Wilson: A Biography.”

And the Razzie for ignoring kid lit goes to …

In Jan. 23 Style section, I could read about this year’s Helen Hayes Award nominees [“Helen Hayes nominations announced”]. On Jan. 24, I could peruse the complete list of Oscar nominees and further delve into Oscar snubs [“Academy’s penchant for auteurism shuts out some worthy directors,” “Cold shoulder goes to Gerwig; love is shown to ‘Anatomy of a Fall’”].

But nowhere in these pages (which, important to note, no longer include KidsPost) could I find any mention of the books that had just won the highest honors in literature for young readers — the Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Sibert, etc. — that were announced Jan. 22 at an American Library Association conference in Baltimore.

Talk about a snub.

Jonathan Roth, Rockville

On our big test, we missed an easy A

Regarding the Jan. 14 Arts & Style article “Angourie Rice is ready for her big test: ‘Mean Girls’”:

I found it odd that a long article about Angourie Rice could appear in The Post without any mention of her starring in a movie set in the D.C. area.

In the 2018 movie of the 2012 novel by David Levithan, both called “Every Day,” Rice plays Rhiannon, the main character. Every scene in both the book and the movie is set entirely within Maryland and D.C. Rhiannon is a young woman who is contacted every day by an entity called A who wakes up each day in the mind of a different person. The new person to whom A jumps each day must be a small distance from the previous person and approximately the same age. Both the book and the movie mention the specific names of the places in Maryland and D.C. where the scenes are set. Despite this, the movie was actually filmed in Ontario and starred an Australian actress.

Wendell Wagner, Greenbelt

The fine print isn’t

I wish The Post would increase the size of the print and the blocks on the Sunday puzzle.

Davina Alexander, Alexandria

A stitch in time saves nine

I read with interest the excellent Jan. 21 news article “Where Democratic candidates stand on key issues.”

But I was disappointed that a key question The Post asked candidates in a similar article before the 2020 election was omitted: Where do you stand on proposals to increase the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court?

Voters might also want to know whether those who say they oppose court expansion today support the proposed Keep Nine amendment to ensure that neither party could ever expand or shrink the size of the court.

Roman Buhler, McLean

The writer is executive director of the Keep Nine Coalition.

Hey, any Gen Zers out there want a quick gig helping us show the full picture of part-time work?

I was very disappointed in a graph with the Jan. 24 front-page article “Gen Z is bringing back the part-time job.” At first glance, it appeared that almost all teenagers had a job in 2004, then almost none in 2014 and back up in 2023 or so.

The most honest/transparent way to present this data would be to run the vertical axis from zero to 100, not 34 to 44. As it is, the quick assumption would be zero to 100, which gives a very false picture.

Barb VanEseltine, Kalamazoo, Mich.

A watchdog to watch

The Jan. 25 Metro article about Montgomery County Public Schools’ sorry record of investigating itself, “Accused principal in Md. has lost his job,” was a real public service and a graphic demonstration of how essential newspapers are to a well-informed public. Thanks to reporter Nicole Asbury and her editors.

Walter Wisniewski, Chevy Chase

Forget the Mississippi Squirrel Revival. We need one right here.

Since John Kelly left The Post, there is no one to whom I can send squirrel pictures.

Herbert Grassel, Silver Spring

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