Why publish racist words?
I have subscribed to this newspaper since moving to Newnan. I have seen several racist comments in Sound Off and in Letters to the Editor. Each time it made me wonder how they get published.My question was answered when I opened the editorial page and saw a letter to the editor titled “An Obama Cult Follower.” I have seen Sound Off comments that we are now in a “banana republic” after the last election. There was another in the same issue that implied if Mitt Romney had won black people would riot.
Perhaps you believe in the First Amendment so deeply that you have to publish anything. I disagree. While the First Amendment does give people the right to say just about anything, it doesn’t mean it has to be published in a community newspaper. But I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less since it appears the editor of the Community Forum page appears to be racist by making up such a scathing title.
Recently, Colin Powell, a Republican and former Secretary of State, said there were many racists in his party. His chief of staff, a white man, not only echoed this sentiment but expounded upon it. Sarah Palin’s “shuck and jive” comment proves his point. Many people in the birther movement fall into this category.
Did that stop them? No. It moved on to President Obama’s college transcripts. The implication was that no black man could be smart enough to attend Columbia or Harvard. They didn’t actually use those words, but they meant them.
Jeffrey E. Reed, Newnan
