I was appalled by Rich Lowry’s column, “Civil-rights movement in disgrace” (Sept. 2). According to him, all the problems of being black in America are solved; blacks now exist on imagined slights, etc.
By contrast, Leonard Pitts Jr., a black man, in his column Sept. 1 titled “Where do we go from here? We go to work,” wrote: “If one theme was common among all the speakers and all the crowd, it was that there remains much to do. They seemed to agree that while progress must be celebrated, celebration should not blind us to the fact that equality is not yet reality.”
I felt it important to save Pitts’ column, so I marked it to save for 50 years and beyond, laminated it and hope one of my heirs reads and shares it in 50 years.
I am reminded of a book I read in the ’70s: “Black Like Me,” by John Griffin. The synopsis on Amazon reads:
“He trudged southern streets searching for a place where he could eat or rest, looking vainly for a job other than menial labor, feeling the hate stare. John Griffin, a white man who darkened the color of his skin and crossed the line into a country of hate, fear and hopelessness — the country of the American Black man.”
Lowry might do as Griffin did — live as a black man for awhile. I believe he would find racial profiling, voter suppression and difficulty finding a job.
Nancy Willard, Woodstock
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