Colorblind

President Reagan’s ignorance of the race problem in the United States has rarely been so apparent as in his response to Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes” Sunday evening. He was asked why is he so negatively viewed by blacks. He replied by speculating that he was a victim of a conspiracy of black leaders to keep alive the issue for personal profit. “Sometimes I wonder if they really want what they say they want because some of those leaders are doing very well leading organizations based on keeping alive the feeling that they’re victims of prejudice,” he said.

Where has the President been these past eight years that he can be so detached from the brutal reality of the effect of his policies and his programs and his leadership on black Americans? How is it possible that he can be so blind to the polarization, the frustration, the growing anger of blacks who feel, with good reason, that they have been left out?

Mr. President: You should know that the blacks in the United States continue to be victims of prejudice, of pervasive injustice, and that prejudice is not of their creation. It is not the invention of their leaders, nor is it a fiction perpetuated for personal gain. And this racism, this injustice, will continue to erode the nation until it is understood that its solution is the responsibility of everyone, but above all of the highest leaders of the nation.

So we welcome President-elect George Bush’s commitment Monday to ensure “that bigotry and indifference to disadvantage will find no safe home on our shores, in our public life, in our neighborhoods or in our homes.”