The perils of prejudice and paranoia

Re “Mazanar redux?” Opinion, June 1

David Cole really struck a chord with me. I am a Latino male married to a Japanese American lady. I don’t need a house to fall on me to know about the evils of discrimination, especially nowadays. As history has shown, even the United States Supreme Court can get it wrong. The fight to preserve what’s left of our Constitution and Bill of Rights is going to be an uphill battle, what with the constant chipping away at the very reason for its creation.

You know, paranoia can be pretty chaotic and undermining when it rears its ugly head. It only compounds the problem when the court tries to justify the unjustifiable. What good is hindsight if the blindness of paranoia consistently prevails?

Maybe, as a people, we are finally ready for a constitutional convention.

DAN MARISCAL

Montebello

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According to Cole, I as a Muslim American, law-abiding, taxpaying citizen can be rounded up and detained by my government for no wrongdoing whatsoever. I am a full-time scientist and a new entrepreneur who is contributing positively to our society. I have one question to ask our government and judicial officials: Why weren’t European Americans rounded up after Timothy McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols were discovered to be the perpetrators of the 1995 Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City? Why is there still such a perverse and nauseating double standard in our country?

It seems that our country still has a long way to go to overcome prejudice and injustice if we cannot uphold equal civil liberties for all.

SHEREEN SABET

Huntington Beach