RACISM: ‘All men are created equal,’ let’s treat them that way

Years ago I lived in a large city in Virginia. I worked with two men, one white whom I will call John and the other black whom I will call Keven. Both men were very good workers and fun to work with. They were about the same age, in their late 20s, and both men owned Jeeps. There the similarities ended.

It seemed that every time Keven drove his Jeep in the city where we worked he was pulled over by the police. His license and registration were run and then he was sent on his way. Never did he receive a ticket or warning for anything nor was he given a reason for the traffic stop.

Now John, on the other hand, drove his Jeep all over that city and was never stopped.

What was the difference? I never thought about it at the time but now I have come to believe that it was because of the color of the skin of the drivers. John was white and white people own Jeeps. Keven was black and how many black people own Jeeps? This is white privilege.

I now understand a little of what white privilege is. It is something a white person is born with. In my above story John never worried about being harassed by the police. He had white privilege although he didn’t know it at the time. On the other hand, Keven felt that privilege against him all the time … simply because he was black.

Sunday’s Press Editorial (June 28) said it very well. If we could only walk in one another’s shoes for just one day we might begin to understand a little better what others go through every day simply because they worship differently than we do, or speak another language, or their skin is not white, or the shape of their eyes are different. I could go on. You get the picture.

The phrase “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” appears in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, written in 1776. If one is a true patriot then one would embrace the differences in others. Only then can this nation become stronger and greater than it has ever been before.

JANE DUNKIN

Rathdrum