My Letter to the Editor

I felt compelled to actually write a letter to the editor of our local paper.  I thought I’d go ahead and post it here, too:

To the Editor:

The front page of Monday’s Times-News featured a campaign article entitled “The Hispanic Vote”.  I am baffled by the descriptions of Senators Obama and McCain!  The writer refers to them as “the African-American Obama and the white Anglo McCain”.  Wow.  That not only negates the rich and varied ethnic backgrounds of both men, it highlights the media’s propensity to exaggerate and intensify racial division in our nation.  Let’s get the facts straight:  Senator Obama is only HALF “African-American”.  The other half of him is WHITE.  However, at least he was referred to as American.  Poor Senator McCain is merely a white Anglo.  Never mind the fact that both of his parents were United States citizens by birth, and Obama’s father was Kenyan, not American!  Perhaps it would be more accurate to refer to McCain as “Scottish-American”.  Or to keep matters simple, maybe just call one black and the other white.  It is precisely this sort of subversive labeling that fans the flames of racism and division.  Oh, and the Hispanic vote?  What about it?  We are ALL Americans, and unless we are NATIVE Americans, all of our ancestors came to this great country from another country.  Racism will never be put to rest as long as the media continues its relentless pursuit to keep it alive by labeling us and categorizing people in little ethnic boxes.

I’ll try to remember to mention if it gets published.