Feedback 6/15 

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That's cold

About Three Head Brewing's plan to sell a Freddy D lager in honor of Frederick Douglass:

With all due respect to the hero Mr. Douglass was and always will be, when I read his quote: "In order to make a man a slave, it is necessary to silence or drown his mind," I wasn't sure if he was talking alcohol or religion.

Me, I'm tipping back a cold, frosty brew. I know what side I'm on in this debate.

JUDY CLAY

I am very glad that the owners of Three Heads are proud Rochesterians and want to honor the city with naming beers after all things Rochester. I applaud that. I was born and raised here and I am a proud Rochesterian, too.

I am a beer drinker and think that Prohibition was wrong. But whether Frederick Douglass was rightly or wrongly against Prohibition is, I think, a moot point. He personally was a recovering alcoholic who opposed drinking alcohol for himself. And regardless of his possible views about Prohibition, he didn't drink. So to then "honor" that man by putting his name on a bottle of alcohol seems in bad taste to me.

ESCHREPPEL

Really disappointing. I love wine, beer, and all spirits, but the sheer ignorance of this boggles me. Why on earth would you use a social activist who believed that alcohol was used to hurt and silence slaves to endorse alcohol? It completely mocks his work and his legacy, diminishing his name to "Freddy D" like he was some pop star. If your business thinks this is O.K., than you need a better marketing department and a better conscience. What's next, Susan B. Anthony lip gloss?

SML

Sanders changed the conversation

Like many Bernie Sanders supporters, I've done a lot of reflecting after recent primaries and caucuses. While I'm still a Bernie supporter through and through, I'm grounded enough to accept reality. Unless something massive happens before the convention, we're not going to swing enough superdelegates to clinch the nomination, and that's O.K.

This primary season has taught me a lot. I got involved, I got informed, and I learned that my voice counts. I learned that there is hope for our country and our political system. There are politicians out there who put the people before themselves.

In an open letter to Senator Sanders, Robert Reich summed it up best, "At the start they labeled you a 'fringe' candidate — a 74-year-old, political Independent, Jewish, self-described democratic socialist, who stood zero chance against the Democratic political establishment, the mainstream media, and the moneyed interests. Then you won 22 states."

I know that at the moment, Bernie is still my candidate. I'll still drive proudly around the Flower City with my Bernie bumper sticker. There's a bit of time between now and the convention, and as we've learned in this election cycle, you never know what will happen next.

Thank you, Bernie, for all you've done and for changing the political landscape.

NATHAN LICHTENSTEIN