Dear Editor:
As a card carrying member of the "Angry Old White Guys Society," I found Mr. Horstmann's tirade published Nov. 13 to be particularly distasteful. He starts off insulting a recent "RedBlueAmerica" column by Boychuk and Mathis from Nov. 7, then goes on to complain about the existence of civil rights.
RedBlueAmerica seems to be commercially viable; their columns are widely syndicated. Frankly, I find their pieces to be usually insightful, and certainly more relevant to today's society than sophomoric diatribes from angry old white guys.
Horstmann lays the base of our problems to unintended consequences of the "Civil Rights act of 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson's executive order 11246, and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution."
The Civil Rights act of 1964 was enacted following a century of injustice and discrimination following the Civil War. No less than John F. Kennedy asked for this legislation "to give all Americans the right to be served in facilities which are open to the public - hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments," as well as "greater protection for the right to vote."
Lyndon Johnson's executive order 11246 "prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin."
The 14th Amendment was written following the Civil War. In their continued effort to repress blacks, many states in the south simply denied citizenship rights to the former slaves. It is interesting to contemplate the point that the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th Amendment were taken almost verbatim from the Magna Carta. That document was signed (under protest) by King John in 1215. And it was written by "white guys."
Horstmann says that he was "taught to revere our Founding Fathers" and was "taught all American history objectively with no political or cultural ideology to distort the facts." Which was it Mr. Horstmann; reverence or facts without distortion?
Our constitution establishes individual liberty. And it took nearly a century, a bitter war, and several hundred thousand lives of our young men for this nation to progress even to the point of prohibiting slavery.
The simple matter of fact is that legislation was, and is continued to be needed. While racism and bigotry cannot be eradicated by legal fiat, it can be mitigated. And some "angry old white guys" will continue to complain they are being ill-used.
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