‘Politics by Distortion’
I would like to wholeheartedly praise and agree with Meisler’s commentary. Not only is it overdue for President Bush to be talking about drugs, it also is high time we seriously attack the social illness behind the drugs.
When a country has 20 million illiterates and a ratio of one out of four high school dropouts, the American educational system is far from carrying the blame for these problems.
Perhaps the attendants at the University of Virginia have a contrary view, but a leisurely stroll down Sunset Boulevard would change that opinion.
Children are dropping out of high school to have children, and 10-year-olds are selling crack so they can eat. Of course their education suffers.
When the education suffers, this is the effect, not the cause. The cause is that they have no money as a result of any combination of the poverty on American streets and the racism in American minds.
Wake up, America. Poverty and racism have gotten us thus far. They’re not going to get us any further.
LORI McDANIEL
San Clemente
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