Teaching Respect

* Rodolpho Carrasco made some good points in his essay, “Why We Need Black History Month” (Voices, Feb. 20). I agree that many black Americans are unfairly targeted or treated with suspicion simply because of their color. However, I also believe that oftentimes racial bias is perceived where none is intended. Why did it not occur to Carrasco that the store security guard might have been staring at the five high schoolers not because he “expected them to steal something,” but because they were looking through “many different magazines”?

Magazines are put in stores for people to buy, not to look through, dog-ear and render them too soiled to be sold. Why wasn’t Carrasco concerned that someone wasn’t teaching these teenagers respect for the property of others?

JUDY LACEY

La Verne