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Should facts be ignored just to protect sensitivities of one racial group?Tue, 07/22/2008 - 4:10pm
By: Letters to the ...
In response to Anthony Evans’ letter, “Negative tone speaks volumes” in the July 16 edition of The Citizen, I feel a need to clarify a few point for Mr. Evans. First of all, he must be racially sensitive to think that Mr. Webster’s “Crying Wolf” letter (in the July 2 edition of The Citizen) was negative. To the contrary, the letter was simply stating facts. Are we no longer able to have an open dialogue without hurting the feelings of a collective group of people, when simple facts are being stated? Please allow me to address a few points brought up in Mr. Evans’ letter. 1. Affirmative action: If you want a “level playing field” you must have level players. This would mean a desire to better yourself and acquire the necessary education to pursue your goals. This country offers more opportunity to its citizens to succeed than any country on earth. Just ask the minority groups who have come to our shores and succeeded despite every obstacle, including a language barrier. Americans of many ethnicities and diverse backgrounds have come to our great country to gain a better life for themselves, and their families. They have come from homes with dirt floors and grass roofs, and fled from political and religious persecution. True, they came freely and without shackles, but, nonetheless, they are grateful to be free, regardless of how they arrived. We should all feel truly blessed to live in the greatest country on earth, regardless of how we got here. 2. Inferior primary and secondary education for minority students: Too often in minority school districts there is mismanagement of funds, corruption, and lack of discipline in the classroom. Case in point, the Clayton County school district, currently in danger of losing its accreditation. It’s impossible to “cry racism” when the system is being controlled by the very minority group being hurt. Perhaps a lesson can be learned from Fayette County schools, where a big part of quality in education is through discipline and insisting on respect for authority. Indeed, the Fayette County Board of Education has been reprimanded by the NAACP for disciplining minority students. Minority school districts need to administer and manage with integrity. And all parents should teach their children to respect authority regardless of race. 3. Continuing to reap the benefits of slavery: Only if one considers the “benefits” to be high crime rates, entitlement programs, drug problems, and sexually transmitted diseases, illegitimate children, and other problems that are rampant in the African-American community. Make no mistake, we all continue to pay for these problems. Over the past 50 years it has become impossible to safely walk the streets of most major cities at night due to minority crime. This limits my freedom and takes away my liberties. 4. Feeling of entitlement — “Take care of me, Uncle Sam”: Only 4 percent of the population was ever wealthy enough to own a slave in this country. Many decedents of slaves shop at discount stores where they benefit from cheap prices for items made abroad in “sweat shops” by indentured children and other desperate peoples. Does this mean in a few generations your descendants will owe reparations to the descendants of these victimized people? I would like to know where the Constitution guarantees us medical and dental coverage, college tuition, food stamps, free lunches and welfare programs? The U.S. is the single largest contributor of aid to Africa, but no matter what we give, it will never be enough. Until people become self-sufficient, they will always demand more. In closing, the beauty of this world we live in is that we are free to go where opportunity awaits us. If you can find one nation on the African continent where you can fulfill your God-given potential and have a better quality of life, then you should “go for it.” Otherwise, stop looking around for excuses, and join us all in reaching for our goals. Perhaps one day there will be no need to restate the same old topics, but not until the “They owe us” attitude is laid to rest. Perhaps all parents should teach their children not to have their hand out. I think Mr. Webster’s letter was not negative, but very truthful. Unfortunately, for many, the truth hurts. Michelle Daniels Fayetteville, Ga. login to post comments
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