Politics and racism

Re “Lynwood politics a stage for region’s racial power shift,” June 5

I was amused and saddened to read the article on the squabbling over political power in Lynwood. From the title, I knew that the “racial strife” was between “people of color.” If light-skinned parties were involved, the article would have probably been titled, “Racism in Lynwood.” Also, it’s interesting to note that even though the combatants were people of color, they found a way to insinuate that the majority (white) stereotypes were partly to blame. Despite the frustrating semantics, it’s valuable to expose racism in all its colors.

ANDREW M. HAYNES

Petaluma

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The Times provides little more than frustration to this social scientist with its reference to “racial” conflict. Listen up: There is no such entity as a “Latino” race. And the real tragedy unfolding in Lynwood is a continuation of the “race” conflict manufactured by an all-powerful “white” population. And a “white”-owned press such as The Times, rather than defuse and debunk those concepts, adds to and perpetuates it when it could address the real underlying problems, such as a lack of material well-being.

F. DANIEL GRAY

Los Angeles