Collective guilt over massacre

Re “Feelings of guilt by association,” Opinion, April 18

I can’t help but believe that severe psychological and mental illness is culture- and colorblind. As an American who happens to be white, I took no responsibility for the evil and devastation that Timothy McVeigh committed, nor when two teenage killers at Columbine High School took so many innocent lives. I would never think to assign any responsibility for the carnage at Virginia Tech to anyone other than the murderer himself. Instead, I’m going to hope we all show a renewed sense of responsibility toward making necessary changes in gun control and in the diagnosis and treatment of psychological and mental illness.

E. A. STROUD

Santa Monica

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The American Muslim community can relate to Edward Taehan Chang’s experience. On the day of the shootings, many of us held our collective breath, pointlessly awaiting the ethnicity or religion of the attacker. We’re all Americans. Let us all mourn together. Pointing fingers doesn’t change the situation. We should know by now that we can’t can control the acts of every zealot or madman intent on death and destruction. Why put the burden of collective guilt on an entire community -- regardless of ethnicity or religion -- that isn’t theirs?

TARIK TRAD

Glendale

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Unfortunately, American society as a whole tends to form negative stereotypes of almost every race or ethnic group. Blacks in the Louisiana area were thought to be looting after the media published a photo of a black looter taking advantage of Hurricane Katrina’s fallout. Mexicans are stereotyped as illegal immigrants after the media covered the walkouts in Los Angeles-area schools in protest of forced documentation of immigrants. Koreans could become known as psychopathic killers in response to the media coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. Most minorities in America have a single moment that causes stereotyping based on the misconduct of a single individual, and society has to realize that these are the actions of people, not races. I strive daily to categorize people according to who they are as a person rather than their race, and I believe that this is the most beneficial course of action for society as a whole.

GREG GREENE

Fountain Valley

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Re “Ethnicity brings an unwelcome focus,” April 19

It seems that radio personality John Kobylt knows little about the sting of racism. It has nothing to do with a lack of intelligence that we feel shame if someone of our ethnicity commits a crime or some shameful act. I’m sure that was the reaction of most of the Asian community, not just the Koreans.

JAMES K. KAMADA

Manhattan Beach