I had a real problem with the writer trashing the place he had lived. In the Old West, if you shot a man in the back, you were a coward. The premise of the letter is the race card. Apparently white people in Jefferson County are "keeping the black man down."
I've lived here for thirteen years. I volunteered full-time at the thrift shop Wag the Dog for eight years. In that time, I met quite a few people, both black and white; I can honestly say, there was a small percentage of racists, both black and white. As a northerner, I have found that hating northerners is more prevalent than racism.
Let's go back a couple hundred years. Do you believe that the Germans, the Italians, the British, the French, etc. would have ever been caught with each other? They were not a melting pot in the beginning. The process took some time. So regarding racism, I think everyone must stop babbling about the remedies regarding race. The gentleman who wrote this letter espoused the part mathematics had to do with a solution. Here's the mathematics that would surely solve the problem. One hundred fifty years ago, none of those people would be chummy with each other. That racism between those people abounded, and within one hundred years, there was truly a melting pot.
What I'm saying is "it takes time" for different nationalities to truly merge together. It's a process that you're not gonna change. If we just keep doing everything we are doing, we'll get there, but it will take time, but it won't be solved by race-baiting, and there will always be a percentage of racists. Remember, the Civil War was 160 years ago. Since then, there have been great strides, though we still have a long way to go. But remember, the process must run its course. Believing there is a quick fix to this is unrealistic.
Just a note, in every large city in our country, the ruling party is Democrat. They've lead the way to ostensibly help. As far as the failure of our school district, you can solve that problem by removing Shirley Washington. I have been here thirteen years, and I could be wrong, but I've never seen a grading of our school system above a D+. Thirteen years–and probably more–this woman has been on a school board over a totally failed school system, yet she keeps coming back. If you live in her district, why would you keep voting for her?
Larry Beger