Doubts About Powell Support
* William Reagan’s commentary, “The Other Doubts About Powell” (Voices, Nov. 11), seems the height of paranoia. Though Reagan admits that Colin Powell is “intelligent, articulate, handsome and he comes from the ‘hood,” Reagan is still “suspicious of the way white Republicans have shoved him up the ladder.” Reagan goes on to describe Powell’s successful military career as either being some kind of planned, 30-year-long conspiracy perpetrated on us by the white power structure for some unknown purpose, or a case of now that the Cold War is over we’ll let the black general head the Joint Chiefs of Staff since the position isn’t “so important anymore.”
If a white writer implied that Powell had been “shoved up the ladder” by white people and had achieved his long list of accomplishments by anything other than his own merit, or if a white writer tried to denigrate the post of Joint Chiefs of Staff because a black man held the job, I am sure Reagan would be the first to label that writer a racist. If Reagan can see that Powell is intelligent, articulate and handsome, then why can’t white Republicans rally to Gen. Powell for those same qualities? To suggest to black people that the white man is all-powerful and any black man that achieves success in this society is to be viewed with suspicion and mistrust is to send a message to the black community that is more damaging than any message ever sent by a white supremacist.
Mr. Reagan, black people have character and merit. And, like any other people in this country we can rise to the top by steadfastly exhibiting this character and a strong work ethic, as Powell did.
WALTER JONES
Sylmar
* When I was young, I was a Republican and proud of it. Ours was the party of Lincoln and theirs was the party with the unholy alliance with the apartheid of the South. I could not have anything to do with a political party that welcomed Sen. Theodore Bilbo and, get this, my young friends, Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms.
Starting over 30 years ago, the Republican Party became the party of greed and avarice and gave up on the millions of Americans who were condemned to a life of poverty and discrimination because of the accident of their birth. That’s why I am saddened by the announcement from Gen. Powell that he does not choose to run for President. He could have brought the Republican Party back to where it was when I was a young man. He could have brought back its heart.
CHARLES E. McCLUNG
Dana Point
* As a 40-year-old, white, conservative Republican (and a staunch member of the National Rifle Assn.), I was an enthusiastic supporter of a Powell candidacy for President, and I am greatly disheartened that he has decided not to enter the race.
Although the Republican Party has many capable leaders, Gen. Powell seems to epitomize the type of strong moral leadership our nation sorely needs at this critical point. If ever a man possessed the capabilities to chart a clear path for this nation, and heal the divisiveness among us, he was that man--and this was his hour. Let us all hope that history will not record his decision as one of those great missed opportunities. Vote for Powell--in 2000!
GRANT W. OSTAPECK
El Toro
* I must take exception to Cal Thomas’ revisionist history in his column (Commentary, Nov. 14) questioning whether Colin Powell is sufficiently conservative to fit in the party “created in the image of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan.”
If the Republican “big tent” is not big enough to cover Powell, it most assuredly would not have room for Goldwater. Goldwater does not share the religious right’s desire to mix politics and religion, and it is disappointing to see hate-filled wackos like Pat Buchanan and Bob Dornan taken seriously as presidential candidates of the party Goldwater once led.
ELDEN H. CROSS
Simi Valley