stock_Letters to the Editor image

A couple of weeks ago, our neighbor saw me taking a break from mowing, and crossed the street with his lawn mower blazing. He would not stop and join me and my husband on our back porch to visit until he had finished mowing the flat top and the steep slopes of our front yard. My husband and I are white senior citizens. Our kind neighbor and his wife are African American. Recently, when I watched the video of George Floyd, a black man, pleading, “I can’t breathe,” as a white police officer knelt on his neck, I was upset, but I did not think about my neighbor or my other African American friends. Yesterday I walked across the street just to say hello to my neighbor who was repairing a fence. Neither of us mentioned the story in the news. But later that day I watched CNN commentator Bakari Sellers read something Ella Baker said in 1964: “Until the killing of black mothers’ sons becomes as important to the country as the killing of a white mother’s son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest.” Obviously, more than 50 years later, not much has changed. I felt ashamed, that when I spoke to my neighbor earlier it never occurred to me that what was just another heartbreaking story on the news for me was deeply personal for him, because the neck under the officer’s knee might have been his father’s, his brother’s, his beloved grandson’s. I cannot truly know what it is like to have dark skin in a country where a white person may well fear and mistrust me solely because of how I look. But I can put myself in my neighbor’s shoes; I can start acting like I care.

Ellen O’Brien,

Tyler

WHEN WILL IT END?

I am the parent of a black child. I would move heaven or hell to save him. I watched, as many of you have, George Floyd’s life slip away at the knee of a cop. I was outraged that a man, that was supposed to protect us, felt no compassion for a human life. The color of George Floyd should not matter, but sadly it does; sadly, racism still exists. I felt pain — pain for his mother, his brother, his family and friends that, not only lost him, had to watch it over and over again.

I felt sorrow — sorrow for a part of our community that has suffered racism, has had to watch their back at every move, least they do something seemingly wrong, to be confronted by a police officer that only sees color and not a human. Not all police officers are racist, not all white people are racist, but there are some that walk amongst us. I am worried, I am worried for the future of my child. Will he one day be the one laying on the ground as someone takes his life simply because of the color of his skin? When will it end?

Buffie Hobbs,

Bullard

PEACEFUL PROTEST

First, what happened to George Floyd should never have happened. Ever. Anywhere. Period. The whole country was probably in agreement with that statement and was ready to defend that position. Until someone threw the first brick through a window. Now we’re seeing orchestrated chaos and unleashed violence as a result.

Don’t say it’s their constitutional right to protest this way. Read the document. They have a right to peaceable protest. Breaking into locked stores and running out with whatever one wants is still theft. Setting fires is still arson. … I wonder how many black business owners are now out of business because of the trashing and looting? Do you think Target will rebuild in these neighborhoods after the dust settles? I doubt it. Do you think police officers of any color will want to rush in to these neighborhoods to protect lives and property? Probably not. …

Make no mistake, this is planned. When pallet loads of bricks just appear in these neighborhoods, there is some money behind it. Ask yourself who wants to see this country divided and to fail. If the left could not ruin us with the fear of COVID, they will quickly move on to the next crisis. … Let’s pray for quick healing of anger and hate, for justice for people of all colors.

Adethia Rudd

Tyler