Black elite maintains power by perpetuating racism Re: “Blacks must not remain silent about America’s new racists,” June 22
I read Walter E. Williams’ commentary with sadness, though I applaud his courage to speak the truth that racism is alive and well within the black community. It thrives partly because of the approval of the black educated elite, who have gained a kind of perverse power through exploiting the genuine abuses of the past by encouraging a perpetual victimhood mentality.
Like Williams, I have also pondered Eric Holder’s statement that America is a “nation of cowards” unwilling to make progress in the area of race relations. The fact that Holder made this grim assessment as the first black attorney general of the first black president was an irony that apparently was completely lost on him.
As a black woman, it seems to me that whites in fact have made great strides in extending us an olive leaf of peace and real opportunities. Yet from the highest levels of American government down to the common man on the street, their efforts have largely been met with suspicion, excuses, accusations, and outright hostility. Other races also continue to be the target of modern blacks’ anger and racism. They seem to have a problem with everybody.
Several years back, they made a big deal out of proudly redefining us as “African Americans” — a title of supposed dignity and distinction. It is a tragedy that so many of them now choose to behave in ways that make that distinction so odious.
Angela McIntosh
Frederick, Md.
It’s not progress if Metro riders are still at risk
Re: “Metro work in progress two years after crash,” June 21
National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Debbie Hersman’s assessment that Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority is making “acceptable progress” is an overstatement of NSTB’s own findings. News reports all miss the key point; if two rail cars collide, will the occupants be safe? Let’s see. …
NTSB Safety Recommendation R-10-8-22, dated Aug. 10, 2010, states: “The NTSB concludes structural design of 1000-series railcars offers little occupant protection against catastrophic loss of occupant survival space in a collision, and continued use of these cars in revenue service constitutes an unacceptable risk to WMATA Metrorail users. The NTSB therefore recommends that WMATA remove all 1000-series railcars as soon as possible … 1000-series cars would not be expected to provide appreciable benefit in higher-speed collisions. …”
How can there be “acceptable progress” when Hersman’s own agency has rated continued use of 1000-series rail cars an unacceptable safety risk to passengers?
Jim Kottkamp
Alexandria
Palin, Kardashian have lots in common
Re: “Memo to media: Palin isn’t Kardashian,” June 19
I would like to remind Bill O’Reilly that Palin has recently been employed, along with him, as a commentator for Fox News and, as he himself alludes to, as a star of her very own reality series: “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” on TLC.
This, coupled with much of the population’s assessment of her as a nitwit (an opinion accentuated every time she opens her mouth) makes her far more comparable with fellow reality television star Kim Kardashian than O’Reilly may care to admit.
Steven Walker
Manassas
