Dear Editor:
I was very much astounded at the article in Black Voices by Ron Burton. It is no wonder the Blacks feel that the police officers and everyone else is out to get them if Black parents are teaching such things to their children. I quote from his article “with the added onus of having to protect your child from a country that is out to get them, a country that kills someone that looks like them every 28 hours, a country that will likely imprison him/her by their mid-thirties if they don’t get their high school diploma…” ( Do you know anyone who got arrested for not having a high school diploma?) Later he continues “a compulsory lecture that warns young Blacks about the inherent strikes against them; about a society that is built to bring them down.” He then shares what he teaches his children to do if stopped by a police officer.
Guess what? We are white and I had that same lecture with my children when they were teens and when they started driving. Every parent should teach their children what to do in these situations. But I didn’t tell them society was against them so they could play the victim role. I did teach them to be law-abiding citizens. And I know that the majority of Blacks are law-abiding citizens, as well.
I grew up in California with friends of every race. There is no place for racism in our society, but it works both ways. Whites are all evil, conspiring people who want to put all blacks down. That sounds racist to me! Ron, himself, appears from his accolades to have been a successful professional. I commend him for his service. How did he and so many others of any race succeed? It certainly wasn’t by breaking the law or dropping out of school or playing the victim. It takes hard work for everyone. My eight children all put themselves through college (because we could not afford to pay for them) by working hard and studying. They were law-abiding citizens and are each successful in their chosen professions. They work every day with people of all races who have done the same. This article is very divisive and does not help end racism at all.
Donna Myers
