Racial Gap: Lingering Problem for Blacks in American Society

Two articles caught my eye on Jan. 15. One was “Security Guards Seal Off Anti-Apartheid Students” (Metro). “Thirty high school and junior high school students spent the second day of a sit-in Saturday at the South African Consulate in Beverly Hills protesting anti-apartheid policies.” One student stated, “All of us feel strongly that what’s going on in South Africa is unacceptable by any human standards.”

Another article on the front page, “Jim Crow’s Ghost Lurks in New South,” stated Atlanta is split almost in half racially. The city’s public schools, with a 92% black student enrollment, are among the most segregated in the nation. Also economic discrimination is one of the most persistent forms of anti-black prejudice in the South.

Many other forms of racial discrimination were covered in this excellent article. I respectfully submit: Let’s clean up our own racial discrimination mess in the U.S. first. After we clean up our own back yard, let us turn out attention to South Africa’s problems.

BYRON DILLON

Downey