To the Editor:

In response to the May 10-16 North Country This Week Letter to the Editor “Denying “Black Lives Matter” Urgency Displays Ignorance: The author state that “far too long has American society as a whole ignored and trivialized the structural and institutional racism at its core.”

Since the 14th Amendment was passed in 1868, numerous court decisions and laws have resolved discrimination practices in all areas of US institutions and commercial businesses, allowing an injured party to sue and receive compensation and justice.

Jim Crow laws went out in the 1960’s. I ask the writer to name specific instances of remaining “structural institutional racism” inherently written and practiced by any American institution, public or private, that specifically discriminate anyone for employment or service based on their skin color or other personal characteristics.

Not only is the accusation of “structural institutional racism” false, the author neglects to mention the favoritism granted to minorities by Affirmative action, where enrollment in college is modified based on a minority student’s background, and not academic scores.

There is no denying individual racism still exists and occurs in America. But it is hyperbole to state “structural institutional racism” exists as an ongoing written policy and practice.

If the writer can cite clear-cut and specific examples of racist offenses practiced and enforced by government or business as an ongoing policy, I will gladly stand by with him or her to fight it. But conflating the actions of individuals who have done so is makes a proverbial mountain out of a molehill, and unfairly condemns an entire nation for the actions of a few.

If America is so deeply infected with “structural institutional racism” as claimed, how could Barrack Obama attend Harvard, become editor of the Law Review, be elected Senator, and twice elected president in a country where the black community represents only 13 percent of the population? Obama would have never have been permitted to enter any of the mentioned institutions without the support and vote from the white majority that resides in America.

A broad brush has been applied to accuse an entire nation of practicing racism purposely on a wide and organized scale, without evidence.

We are a nation of laws, and have paid dearly in blood and treasure since the Civil War to address the injustice of racism.

The author’s letter ironically is tinted with racism to charge all American’s citizens as unconsciously or deliberately racist in nature. I disagree.

Ron Shirtz

Rensselaer Falls