Web Letters: Mourning in America

"M.L. King uses colorblindness to mean colorblindness." Here we have a word used to define itself. This is the same sentiment that Justice Roberts expresses when he says that "the way to end discrimination is to end discrimination." Championing his delusion as a solution. A basic tenant of the English language taught to me in grammar school was that you cannot use the word you are trying to define as the definition of the word.

Professor Williams highlights the faults in Justice Roberts's opinion beautifully in her article. But the answer to her question of why no one is crying lies in the former comment. There are those in our society who do not search for other words to describe the feelings, sentiments and definitions behind certain schools of thought. They take them at literal value because in all likelihood they themselves have never experienced the inequalities that brought these words into our lexicon. Nor will they (or their children) ever experience the injustice that has been done by this decision.

Kudos to the educators who realized the need for and benefits of truly diverse education for our young people. And shame to those including TSCOTUS who still refuse to acknowledge the psychic damage we all still suffer in this country due to our legacy of slavery.

Mikayla Cuyler

San Francisco, CA

How can we blame the SCOTUS for its failings, when in fact, it is we the people who have failed.

A. J. Cook

Dunwoody, GA

The Chief Justice's comment that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race" is a proposal to a "Just Say No" approach to discrimination, prejudice, and hatred. How simple he makes the world out to be.

Rochelle Cisneros
Co-Moderator - Florida Sunshine State TESOL Advocacy E-Group

Cocoa Beach, FL

During the early 1960s, I participated in the civil rights movement, at least to the extent that my being so young would allow.

Many of the people I worked with said that the basic error of segregation was that government should treat each person as an individual by their merits and achievements. Classification by "race" at all was itself improper, and should be illegal.

Forty-odd years later, that is still my opinion.

Segregation, as such, no longer exists in the US, since no one is running separate school systems anywhere.

John D. Froelich

Upper Darby, PA

Patricia Williams's amazing story about the Alito Court decision shows a deliriousness that is stunning to behold.

She says, Don't believe your own eyes, precisely that up is down: ML "King used colorblindness to mean a lack of prejudice, an acceptance of diversity and an openness to racial, etnic and religious variety." No, King used colorblindness to mean colorblindness: "diversity" was coined years later to mean anti-white, "openness" was also invented years after his death. Anachronistic ignorance goes down when facts can be checked. Judgement of one's "content of character rather than color of skin" is one of the noblest phrases in all of English, and for race-hustlers to piss on that is disgraceful.

Behold Webster's 10th Collegiate Dictionary's no.1 definition of "Fascism: a system, regime or political philosophy that exalts race above the individual"--wear that, you fascists.

Mike Smith

Kelly's Cove, San Francisco, CA