Letters: America’s racial divide

Re “Zimmerman verdict shows stark divide,” July 23

The poll results showing that whites are far more likely to agree with the George Zimmerman verdict than blacks are not surprising. For the most part, black and white Americans live in two different worlds and tend to view the same events from two different perspectives.

Swedish social scientist Gunnar Myrdal thoroughly documented this stark divide in his two-volume 1944 classic, “An American Dilemma.” My 1982 book, “Cities, Suburbs and Blacks: A Study of Concerns, Distrust and Alienation” (with James E. Blackwell), reinforced Myrdal’s findings, in addition to indicating the heterogeneity of thought within the black community on a range of issues.

President Obama’s reflection on race after the Zimmerman verdict was his attempt to convey this stark divide, which still exists.

Philip S. Hart

Los Feliz

Of course whites and blacks see the Zimmerman verdict differently. Whites can go to a store without being followed or harassed, apply for a job or look for a place to live without thinking about their race, and see people who look like them on greeting cards, storybooks, magazines and billboards.

White people carry an “invisible backpack of privilege” that most of them are not even aware of.

Lynn F. Kessler

Sherman Oaks

How can we overcome the racial divide over the Zimmerman verdict? I have three suggestions.

First, we must all — black, white and other — admit we have biases. Honesty requires it. So does dialogue.

Second, would passions be as great if the media referred to Zimmerman as Latino, which he is?

Third, let’s agree that neither Zimmerman nor Trayvon Martin was a saint.

It has been said that “the truth lies somewhere in the middle.” These words should be our guide.

Larry Walker

Canoga Park

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