To The Editor:
Shavana Abruzzo means well (“A Britisher’s View,” 11-14, but (s)he should know better than to equate Obama’s election with the end of institutionalized racism in America. Minorities as a group continue to trail whites in areas like health, wealth, housing, education, employment — in short, just about everywhere — and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. While Americans may justly congratulate themselves on the results of this year’s election, the last thing we need to do right now is to pretend that racial inequalities don’t exist in our country, or that they are simply the result of individual bad choices.
Let’s use Obama’s election not as an excuse to stop talking about racism, but as a reason to talk more. When a black man can be voted into the most powerful office in the world, yet a black child cannot even get a decent education, clearly we still have lots to discuss.
Jacob First
Prospect Heights
