Dear Editor:
While I agree with Nelson Otto that we should set aside racial stereotypes and move forward without bias, our society, sadly, is not at a point where we can ignore race.
To move forward fairly, we would have to all start from equal footing, but because of generations of discrimination (and worse), people of color are moving forward from a starting line situated far behind the white folks' starting line. White privilege exists, and it is not racist or bigoted to point that out.
The difference between an African American person and a white person in poor living conditions today is the fact that the white person is not indigent because of her or his race, rather because of other unfortunate circumstances, while the person of color's circumstances have been socially and politically engineered by racist policy enacted by government at all levels, Realtors, school districts, banks, medical researchers, etc.
Instead of living in a wishful-thinking world, I wish people would read "White Like Me" by Tim Wise, and learn about how this has occurred.
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