KNEELERS: Hardships are faced by all

African American activists, Black Lives Matter leaders and kneeling NFL players: Today’s America owes you nothing special. None of you were ever slaves. Civil rights were granted and Jim Crow ended in 1964, 53 years ago. Since then, many of you have benefited in some way from affirmative action preferences.

If a disproportionate number of you are in jail, on welfare, in public Housing, on food stamps, and live in hopelessness and squalor, then it is because you have expected others to save you. You have been free and equal for more than a half-century. Blaming the racism of others will never save you from misery.

Stop squandering the legacy given to you by those of all races who suffered and sometimes died to give you equality under the law. Stop making your race your identity.

Be an individual, take responsibility, work hard, be humble and join the rest of us in a struggle to make a living in a difficult world. No one, not one of us, escapes failure and hardship of some sort. No one is owed anything beyond the freedom our Constitution grants us; a fair chance to pursue our dreams and earn some hard-won success.

RALPH K. GINORIO

Coeur d’Alene