Readers React: Whites need to stop listening to the voices that make them fear people of color

To the editor: In reading again about white people who have called police on black women and men who were merely going about their lives — in this case, actor Ving Rhames’s brief confrontation with Santa Monica police in his own home — I was struck again by the underlying theme of these stories: fear.

The public discourse on race has hardly been enhanced by a president who continues to characterize people of color as unemployed, stupid, lazy and criminal. It would behoove us to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln, who said, “My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of Earth.”

I believe in that dream. I believe it is up to each American to act both publicly and privately out of a sense of our shared humanity and a belief that we do better when we look out for the other guy.

Valerie Ryan, Monrovia

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To the editor: In articles about police being called to confront black people, where is the balanced reporting that tells us whether there were rules in place that had been broken? Does Yale have a rule against anyone sleeping in a dorm common room? Did Oakland have a rule against using a charcoal barbecue in an unauthorized area? Did Starbucks have a policy against anyone using the bathroom without being a customer?

People who watch TV news are told by the anchors that in this day and age, they need to be vigilant and if they see any suspicious activity, they should call the police. Well, call or not — what should we do?

Larry Wright, Long Beach

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