Race is a continued problem in the U.S.

Dear Editor:

Steve Schirra’s Forum commentary missed the point of what happened as a result of Hurricane Katrina. First and foremost, racism is a problem in this country, whether you believe it or not. Also, the government does bear responsibility for the delay in getting people the help they desperately needed. You made light of the commentaries on the photographs about blacks being portrayed as looting and whites being portrayed as finding. The same word, be it finding or looting, should have been used for all photographs of people – this is exactly what racism is about. If it weren’t deliberate, then why were the words looting used for all blacks and finding for the white couple?

The government was too late in responding to the disaster and deserves criticism for the slow response. If this hurricane had taken place at Martha’s Vineyard, I can guarantee you that the government’s response would have been immediate. What you fail or refuse to realize is that race continues to be a problem in this country. It is something that needs to be discussed in the open and in public. It will not go away because of people like you who want to pretend that racism doesn’t exist or exists only in the minds of some people. Obviously you have not experienced racism or adversity of any kind because if you had, you would not have written the commentary you did. I would suggest that you look at some old news reels about the many atrocities blacks have suffered in this country as early as the 1960s and do some reading on what racism is.

Vickie R. Ellison

Assistant professor of Spanish pedagogy

Modern and Classical Language Studies

U.S. needs to stay the course, not repeat Vietnam, past mistakes

Dear Editor:

I really hope that I’m not the only one that was beyond appalled after reading Erin Roof’s “Our grief is not a cry for war” piece in Wednesday’s Stater. This entire letter is living proof of why Democrats lost all aspects of the election at every government level last fall. This “article” was nothing but hate speech. I mean, honestly, how much more ignorant can one possibly get than to say that our president was laughing when Sept. 11 happened? Laughing?! The United States is the largest terrorist organization in the world? The thing is, the real world is not the wonderful, peaceful utopia you all believe it is. Terrorists do exist and they are a threat.

Speaking of terrorists, we are not the terrorists over in Iraq. We are not strapping bombs to ourselves and blowing up crowds. We are not using women and children as suicide bombers. We are not setting up roadside bombs to kill innocent people. I’d like to see you say that to someone that’s been over there fighting just so that you’re free to spill your hate speech about their sacrifice. For far too long, Democrats have done nothing but demoralize our troops in hope for a pullout. Democrats nationwide are pushing President Bush to make the same mistake we made in Vietnam, which is not staying the course. Sure, all the hippies back in the ’70s got their way: Their boys were home.

War was over. But they seemed to forget one fundamental point: The slaughter of millions of South Vietnamese by the North Vietnamese that followed our pullout. All you anti-war doves are doing is benefiting the enemy. You are giving them reason to hold on longer. You are endangering the lives of our troops and the Iraqis. I know you’re reading this closed-minded right now and believing my speech is all cliche. You don’t need to believe me; go ask a Vietnam vet.

Neal Casper

Junior political science major