‘Smoldering Society’
I was extremely impressed by Eric Mann’s commentary of May 11: “Help for a Smoldering Society.”
I am an African-American born in 1963. It was truly a shock to me to see a white man advocate the same things black people have been advocating for my entire 30 years of life!
He cited the age-old problems of “white racism vs. a multiethnic society,” “police repression vs. social cohesion” and “ethnic Balkanization.” But indeed, weren’t these the very things people marched for in 1963? And if they are, why am I still dealing with them 30 years later?
In 1963 President Kennedy gave a speech in which he said, “We preach freedom around the world and we mean it. And we cherish our freedom here at home. But are we to say to the world--and much more importantly to each other--that this is the land of the free, except for Negroes; that we have no second-class citizens, except for Negroes; that we have no class system, no ghettos, no master race, except with respect to Negroes? Now the time has come for this nation to fulfill its promise.”
RAYMOND MAXWELL
Los Angeles