Readers React: The disturbing logic used to keep Michael Jackson’s name on a school auditorium

To the editor: How egalitarian of these staff members and parents to vote to keep the late Michael Jackson’s name on the Gardner Street Elementary School auditorium because “he was never convicted of a crime.”

I wonder if this same level of enlightenment applies to William McKinley, Christopher Columbus and Junipero Serra (just to name a few whose names also grace school buildings and public monuments), who have never been convicted of any crime and whose histories are no more complex in the mixture of good and bad outcomes than Jackson’s.

How uniquely American is it that an entertainer, who made millions of dollars off his fans, can be excused any transgression because his music was great.

Mike Post, Winnetka

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To the editor: This article says that some in the Gardner community noted that “Jackson was never convicted of wrongdoing and cannot defend himself.”

A major reason Jackson didn’t go to prison is because he had high-priced lawyers who defended him.

This is an embarrassment.

Stephen Baker, Los Angeles

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