I am responding to Geary Foertsch's article on "Government subsidies." I read the article and struggled with whether or not it was worth a response, but it bothered me, and so I am responding. Mr. Foertsch used Dr. Williams' dated data as fact, and as a tool to deny and hide behind the many inequalities in the world.
I think he misses the point of Bryan Stevenson's initiative, which is about bringing attention to and correcting the societal ills that affect people of color. Those ills date back hundreds of years and have a tremendous amount to do with today's family structure, specifically in the black and brown community.
White supremacy and white privilege are designed to keep people of color "in their place." The societal constructs in place today that allow police to incarcerate men of color for almost anything, and to shoot and kill people of color without cause or consequence are the new Jim Crow, and in many cases have caused men to be taken from their families.
I have not been to the new Museum for Peace and Justice, but he is right - white people were lynched, and in many cases that was because they supported people of color and were against slavery. Mr. Foertsch must have been aware and know that this is not represented. If that is the case, this should be represented as part of the history. I could go on and on, but I won't.
But, I will close with this. Mr. Foertsch might not want to use Dr. Williams as a reference. There was a petition to remove him from George Mason University because he is so inflammatory and out of touch. May I suggest he consider reading "Just Mercy" or "The New Jim Crow," and if he thinks white supremacy or white privilege isn't real, I wonder how excited he would be to be a man of color for a week.
G. Jackson
Rehoboth Beach
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