Letters to the Editor: Racists and antisemites have freedom of speech. So do decent people.
Saturday, July 16, 2014
I’m a proud supporter of President Barack Obama, and of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate for president.
But I am saddened by some of the hate mail I’ve received lately from people who are angry that I am supporting these candidates.
I wanted to go on the record here and say I do not agree with all of the reactions that some supporters of Donald Trump have received. There were many more responses from those who felt that people who supported Trump should be held to the same standard as people who supported Mitt Romney.
To those people I would say that we must not hold one person to a different standard than the rest of us.
I would also point out that Trump supporters are not the only ones who have had their life interrupted. We can have people tell us to get a job, receive unemployment benefits and be forced to live in abject poverty, all because of the actions of someone else.
No one is born a racist. There are a lot of factors that lead to our being racist. It is a complex thing.
But I don’t buy the excuse that the only way to become racist is to be involved in racist groups.
Our children are not born racist, they are reared to be prejudiced. In my opinion, it’s not a conscious choice to be racist. Rather, it is perpetuated by the choices and actions of our parents.
I have a nephew who has autism, but I can’t tell you how many times when he is standing in a grocery store line with his mother, he is picked up by another adult who is prejudiced against him. She’ll go out of her way to have it end in her favor.
A lot of people, in my opinion, are born into racism.
If you are an African-American and you