Dear Editor:
Thursday a Miami Herald writer, Leonard Pitts, heralded "Sadly, America is not 'better than this,'" indicating that "America" is racist and epitomizes what happened in Charlottesville.
Some of us are so ready to deny it and some of us are too ready to agree wholeheartedly with it. But wait: What are people defining as "America?" Is it 90 percent of US citizens? 51 percent? 10 percent? 3 percent? 1 percent? Look around you - is it your next-door neighbor, your minister, your daughter's best friend? Is it the nurse or fireman or handyman who helped you? Is it you? Do you want someone that is white or hispanic to move into your black neighborhood, or someone who is black or hispanic to move into your white neighborhood? Do you want your white child to invite someone of color over to play or vice versa? Do you want your African-American child to date a white girl, or worse yet, marry a white girl? How about having your little boy play with the Down syndrome girl in his class at school or invite the autistic little boy over to his birthday party? How do really feel? We have all felt prejudice at one time or another; we have all been prejudiced at one time or another. How about putting paper on toilet seats because you never know who has used it before you - and then not cleaning it up after you leave? How about asking not to sit by a group of hispanics or Arab-looking people? Or people who have tattoos or who are talking way too loud in a vulgar manner? If we have ever felt this way against anyone, who are we to talk? Who are we to blame others?
Am I, in writing this, making America better or worse? Am I helping to solve the problem or adding to it? If we want to actually rid America of the 90 percent or the 1 percent prejudicethe hardcore hatred that does exist out there somewhere, we have to harness our own prejudices, whether it is anti-Catholic, anti-gay, anti-disabled, anti-Republican, anti-black, anti-poor, anti-homeless, anti-old people. The onus for solving "America's" problem is found within each of us, every day, every conversation, every thought. I'm working on it - how about you?
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