To the editor:

My work as a therapist makes two concepts abundantly clear: There are parallel personality traits shared by destructive leaders in all walks of life and—for those who are enamored, empowered, or terrified by them—the defense mechanism of denial is extremely difficult to pierce. When it becomes clear that a leader of a household is a killer of either spirit or body or both, it is an uphill challenge to convey a warning to countless partners and many sons and daughters that, without their wake-up call, further destruction is both predictable and inevitable.

In like manner, warning signs clearly show our 47th president, raised to be a destroyer of all he cannot control, dominate, or seduce, never intends to leave office. For readers loyal to Donald Trump, I ask you to consider the futures of your sons, daughters, and theirs when you are no longer here to protect them, and they dare to have thoughts that lead to their imprisonment or death by an authoritarian leadership. If Trump ever intended to leave office, why has he sent a team of FBI agents armed with a search warrant to Fulton County to seize all available materials relating to the 2020 election? Do you think he will stop this behavior with Georgia?

Terrified his poll numbers are dropping, his intention is to alter evidence and once again lie—to tell the American people that evidence of voter fraud has, as he has always insisted, been found. Subsequently, he will tell us it will be too dangerous to hold elections. This takeover is our future if not stopped by a union of sane voices.

SaraKay Smullens
Philadelphia

Published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 25, 2026

To the editor:

Growing antisemitic violence worldwide — with hate sanctioned through sentiments like those expressed by Vice President JD Vance at the recent Turning Point USA conference — compels me to share a personal story. The Baltimore of my youth was a time marred by disgraceful, degrading Jim Crow laws. Large signs were posted throughout neighborhoods and establishments reading, “No Jews, Negroes, or Dogs.” With regularity, our school classes traveled to Philadelphia to visit the Liberty Bell, which is inscribed with words from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all inhabitants thereof.” No teacher ever referenced the disparity between these words and life as endured in Baltimore.

Following the April 4, 1968, assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., parts of inner-city Baltimore erupted in flames. My father’s business, a fuel oil company started by his father, was destroyed, including the trucks that serviced families with necessary heating oil and the accounts receivable. Although most of his customers lived far from the business location, my father cared about those living near his business, providing heat for countless families, never expecting payment, contributing to all charities he knew about, and, when invited, attending church services with our family. On April 10, eight months pregnant with my first child, I stood in front of my father’s former business, scorched and burned, the smell of destruction ever-present. I heard a man my dad recognized taunt us with a slur. My anguished mother quietly responded, not to the man but to me, “Why are we so hated?”

Our beloved rabbi, Uri Miller, urged my father to declare bankruptcy, but he refused. My parents sold their comfortable home, most furnishings, and cashed in savings. As soon as his debts were paid, he and my mother moved to a small apartment in Florida. My father believed he had dishonored his father’s name, failed his wife, and disgraced his family. Eventually, my father kept his promise to my mother, bringing her home to be buried in the same Baltimore cemetery as her parents. Several years later, he was buried beside her. More than 30 years after her death, my mother’s haunting question remains: Why are Jewish people so hated? Or to draw on the prescient, thought-provoking insights of Holocaust survivor and activist on behalf of the protection and well-being of all people, Elie Wiesel: Are Jews only spoken up for once we are dead?

SaraKay Smullens
Philadelphia

Published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 16, 2026

In this treacherous time, as our rule of law is being steadily dismantled, thank you for your patience as I have tried to share examples of hope and direction from past and present. I see "Wicked: For Good" as a brilliant example of this "wake-up call," and regret that The Golden Globes did not honor director Jon M. Chu with a nomination as director and the film itself as one of the worthiest films of the year.

Read the full review of Wicked: For Good on socialworker.com

Read the full review on socialworker.com

by SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD

    Infuriated when Oliver Stone’s 1994 blockbuster film Natural Born Killers labeled our most vulnerable clients innate killers, I countered by coining the term “natural social workers.” Jon M. Chu is one of us, refusing to label or push clients into rigid categories—predicting change is impossible, hope a fantasy. Through his two-part Wicked extravaganza, Wicked: Part One, released a year ago, and the newly released Wicked: For Good, Chu addresses the complexities of character development—the impact on a child shunned, loathed, abandoned, her only purpose to care for and protect her younger sister, and the impact on another, raised to believe that only her wishes and desires mattered. Like Chu, social workers never accept setbacks as indication to abandon our efforts, quiet our passion, relinquish dreams and the power of hope. In keeping with other reviews, what follows will be a discussion of the film’s framing and Chu’s brilliantly creative intent. There will be no spoilers.

     To recap: As Wicked: Part One progressed, two young students, each emotionally abused—Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a relentlessly discarded Person of Color, in this case Green, and G(a)linda (Ariana Grande), white, grossly overindulged and overprotected—forge a loyal friendship, despite grave odds. This includes the love each holds for the dashing Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey, People Magazine’s 2025 sexiest man alive). We watch as Elphaba grows beyond the pain of rejection and abandonment. Their relationship opens the door a crack toward Glinda’s awareness.