Commission to Study Racism

I think that many Americans are growing tired of the inference of one group of people always being victimized by another group, or that government is guilty of never doing enough to bridge the racial divide. Nowhere in The Times’ editorial (“Action, Not Study, on Racism,” Oct. 19) is any reference made to individuals and their communities assuming a greater responsibility in ridding themselves of drug abuse, gangs and guns, and an extremely high out-of-wedlock birthrate, which all lead to greater economic stagnation.

The more money spent on treating these behavioral problems means less for efforts in breaking down the economic divide that exists between races.

JIM REDHEAD

San Diego

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* If the idea to convene a commission on racism is to be viable, it has to include not only African Americans and whites, but Mexican, Asian and Native Americans as well, and not only men but women. As a woman who is part Mexican American, I get so incredibly tired of certain groups painting racism as a solely a black and white issue, typified by the recent “Million Man March.” What about the rest of us minorities? Don’t we suffer from racist attitudes on the part of others? Or is some people’s oppression better than others’? If racism was solely a black-white issue, then what was all that turmoil between Korean Americans and African Americans witnessed in Los Angeles not all that long ago?

Unless this presidential commission is thoroughly representative of the American populace, whatever pronouncements and solutions it makes will be completely meaningless.

DESIREE GUZZETTA

Moreno Valley

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* When Clinton denounces Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, he says “nothing good ever came of hate” (Oct. 17). Really? Did not Martin Luther King Jr. hate racism? Did not Gandhi hate violence? Although I am not placing Farrakhan within the realm of those great leaders, I think we have lost sight of the essence the Nation of Islam propounds. When the Nation was under Malcolm X, the goal was not hatred to other races. It was simply for the advancement of the black man; for him to take responsibility, to educate and prosper by himself and without the aid of others, especially from government. Although the Nation of Islam later turned on Malcolm X and tried to denounce him, the essence of black advancement is still present, as demonstrated by Farrakhan’s speech at the “Million Man March.”

We should not “throw the baby out with the bathwater” and discredit all the Nation of Islam stands for because of Farrakhan’s follies. There is too much good there for the case of race relations in this country. Colin Powell elucidates it best by saying “let’s not prejudge what might be accomplished.”

NIRMAL TRIVEDI

Irvine

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* Daniel Schnur, ex-spinmeister for ex-presidential candidate Pete Wilson, talks about the racial divide besetting the U.S. (Commentary, Oct. 17), but does not acknowledge the roles he and his former boss played in promulgating that divide, and their attempts to capitalize on it.

Starting with Proposition 165, the governor’s power grab, which trashed welfare recipients (with coded implications about who “they” were), on to Proposition 187, which trashed immigrants to win Schnur’s boss’ reelection as governor. And then we come to his latest feat--do away with affirmative action; after all, racism is dead.

It did not win Wilson any points in a presidential campaign, nor did his actions lead to any sober discussion of the issues. But still, Wilson and his minion, Schnur, have had large roles in escalating the shouting.

LEE PODOLAK

Orange