Racial Division and ‘Race Cards’

I have had enough of talk about “the race card.” The phrase characterizes racial issues as mere games, and trivializes race relations and the lives and accomplishments of people like Martin Luther King, Justice Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers and others who labored to achieve equal treatment for African Americans.

Johnnie Cochran did not “play the race card,” as he is accused of doing. Cochran has long been an advocate of civil rights. He helped shape the law on police brutality. He knows well that racist attitudes exist in the LAPD. The Christopher Commission and the Kolts report documented these facts. We should be more concerned that Mark Fuhrman could brazenly make the statements he did on tape, and believe he could get away with it, than we are about a defense lawyer who is just doing his job.

It is time to recognize that race matters are serious and need to be addressed. We must be willing to lay aside our beliefs and work to create a society where race is not an issue. There won’t be any “race cards” left to “play” if we do.

THOMASINA M. REED, Attorney

Los Angeles

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* It is small wonder that the African American community has so little trust for their white brethren. Consider the plight of the O.J. Simpson jury.

If the jury had rendered a verdict of guilty, white people were convinced that there would be a riot. If the jury had been hung, the white mind would have considered that as proof that black jurors would not vote to convict a black defendant. If the jury voted not guilty, then either they were not able to understand the evidence, or they were sending a message to the criminal justice system, or they were protesting the prolonged sequestration, or they were racists.

It seems to this Caucasian woman that the aftermath of this trial has loosed and legitimized that deep hidden ugly vein of racism in some of the white community who will not consider that this jury voted unanimously for a verdict of not guilty because they had reasonable doubt about the case presented. Why is that so hard to accept? It also seems that the media have fanned the flame of racial division more for their own interests, rather than pursuing responsible journalism.

MARILYN KORADE WILSON

Santa Monica

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* Did the race card dealt by F. Lee Bailey and Cochran come any closer to the bottom of the deck than the cards dealt by Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush? Each of these men gained America’s highest political office by using the infamous race card. First it was Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” card, then Reagan’s “Welfare Queen” card. Most of us surely remember George Bush’s “Willie Horton” card.

Yes, if Simpson is in fact guilty, he has “juked” our justice system. However, not even the greatest runner can run away from himself. Let’s get on with our lives, and let O.J. Simpson run into oblivion.

PAUL P. DuPLESSIS

Diamond Bar

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* I used to laugh when I heard National Lampoon’s song “Deteriorata,” in which the lyrics stated, “Remember: Two wrongs don’t make a right; but three do!”

Indeed, our country and its legal system are deteriorating if Alexander Cockburn’s conclusion (Commentary, Oct. 5) is that justice is served when jury acquittals of Marion Barry, O.J. Simpson and in the “Black Belt” of Alabama (45% acquittal rates) “should be seen as a virtue,” classifying such actions as “a low-key civil rights movement.”

This is not a virtue! Teaching our children to work/study hard, to respect their elders, and indeed, to obey the law--these are virtues. To do or say otherwise can only lead to lawlessness and anarchy. And for any jury to ignore a judge’s instructions to rule on the law and the evidence as presented is tantamount to criminal negligence. Until we get our act together as a society, I guess I’ll have to wait for that third wrong.

PHIL RAYCRAFT

Altadena

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* Re “Where Are Latinos in Post-O. J. Talk of Race Relations?” Oct. 9: George Ramos failed to see what is really wrong in all this post-O. J. talk. Race is what is wrong. Let’s talk about people and put everyone’s race aside. Let’s talk about what we as people will do to prevent bad things from happening in our community.

I am not black, white or Latino, if you ask me. I am not Oriental or European either. I am a person trying to live a good life in Los Angeles, working and paying my taxes. Why should my race be of any importance to those things? Forget about your neighbors’ race, but look inside them and try to find out the good things they have to offer you. The day America stops looking at races and starts looking at people, we will have a better place for our kids to live.

Mr. Ramos, you are right to be proud of who you are, but most of all you are a human being. Be a person that worries about persons. It doesn’t matter to your readers which races are getting along or not, or at least it shouldn’t.

SERGIO SOUZA

Los Angeles

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* Citizens! Look beyond today’s “news” of division and discontent. No other country in history has made such principled and official efforts to come to terms with human differences. Isn’t that still the goal, in spite of setbacks, surveys and course corrections? If we give up now, the bad guys win.

PAUL STRALEY

Simi Valley