I have to respond to Charles Ajootian (Letter to the Editor, below) who says, several times, I forget. No, I do not forget those things mentioned, I lived through some of them. Being 78 years old I remember Selma, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. being killed, the murder of young northern kids bussed down to Mississippi, and many more.
I also stand by my assessment that white people, liberal or conservative, have learned and evolved over the decades. Older highly charged racists have died off and with them the venom they extruded with them. Change is an evolutionary process and we no longer live in the 1950s, ’60s, or ’70s. Attitudes even in those deep southern states have evolved and we white people evolved with the times which must be realized and expected.
Critical race theory teaching that all whites are racist is the surest way possible to revive the massive racism, hate, and violence it portends to fight. O
ld history, especially horrible mistakes and injustices, should never be forgotten but learned from. Unfortunately, this has happened with this nation: forgotten the lessons already learned.
Don’t base your judgments on long past times, look at our people today. Progressively we have become more accepting of others. More and more we work together, attend entertainments together, socialize together and color has become less a factor and content of character more. Allowing CRT to be taught as valid surely is creating resentment, hostility, hate, and eventually, violence on every side.
Striving to be one people, one nation was the dream of Dr. King. Don’t destroy that dream.
Charles Ajootian: Critical race theory exposes white privilege, not white racism
The last sentence in Mr. Davis’ letter to the Editor published June 9, in response to my letter about systemic racism, was very revealing, and actually proves my point about the need to study systemic racism. He stated: “If you’re really serious about ending racism, you first have to stop calling everyone that doesn’t look (and think) like you racists.” Who does he claim is going around calling people racist? My letter doesn’t do that. The concept of critical race theory doesn’t do that either. At its core, critical race theory exposes white privilege, not white racism. There is a difference between these concepts, and most Americans don’t have a clue what the difference is. When white Americans don’t want to deal with an issue, they historically call it “Marxist” and “Communist.” They did this when students wanted to sit at a lunch counter, to ride in integrated buses, to be allowed admittance to public colleges, to not have to go to the back of the bus, to have the right to vote without being shot in the face for trying to register. The point of critical race theory is that white Americans no longer do these horrible overtly racist things to black citizens, but white Americans still benefit, every day, month and year, from all kinds of systems and rules that work in their favor. I believe we cannot heal as a nation until we all understand white privilege and work to dismantle it.
I would also like to respond to Mr. Davis’ attempt to re-write the role of Gen. Lee in U.S. history. No matter how much we want to believe otherwise, any person who takes up arms against the United States is a traitor to the United States.
