Racial past is problem

Floyd Hopson of Hazen must live in an alternative universe since he thinks “President Trump has tried to bring our nation together … .” Really? Re-tweeting fake anti-Muslim videos, supporting neo-Nazi hate speech in Charlottesville, repeatedly labeling immigrants as murderers and rapists— where in that litany of racially divisive rhetoric is the “bring us together” part?

Apparently, President Trump has convinced Hopson that Democratic-controlled cities are “disgusting, ravaged with high crime and violence and no hope.” San Francisco-San Jose, Portland, Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Tampa, Atlanta, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Louisville, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Pittsburgh—which of these cities falls into Hopson’s dystopian America?

Perhaps he refers to Democratic strongholds like New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia? What is disgusting and hopeless about these vibrant American cities filled with cultural and historical treasures? Has he climbed the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or strolled along Chicago’s Magnificent Mile? Has he visited Freedom Hall and walked in the footsteps of the founding fathers?

Could the hellish metropolis he fears be closer to home? Little Rock is still led by leaders with a more inclusive, Democratic vision and we have a crime problem, but ravaged and without hope? Hardly.

Hopson concludes, “… the past isn’t the problem; it’s the present.” No, where race is concerned, the past is the problem. The history of slavery and racial violence in the South still stains the present and darkens the future. William Faulkner said it best: “The past is never dead; it isn’t even past.” DAVID ELI COCKCROFT

Little Rock