White lives not issue

Sen. Tom Cotton was asked if there’s systemic racism in this country. He replied no. People in other countries acknowledge systemic racism in the U.S. When Mike Bloomberg spoke at the Democratic Convention, he said America was great not because we won World War II, but why we fought it: Freedom, democracy and equality.

I became deeply saddened because I remembered a story told me about an African American who was a sergeant in the United States Army who took German prisoners of war to a white restaurant in his military uniform. Even though he was fighting in a war for freedom for all Americans, he knew he could not eat at that white restaurant, yet the enemies of this country could; the whites would not even let him inside to guard the prisoners.

There has been an African American fighting in every war in this country since the war for independence in 1776; yet to this day African Americans do not have the same freedom and equality as whites and other races; even those who fought alongside Senator Cotton for Americans’ freedom.

Many whites still do not understand the meaning behind the words Black Lives Matter. Yes, all lives should matter, but in this country only white lives matter, so white lives have never been an issue. African Americans have been discriminated against in medical treatment, housing, employment, education, etc. Jim Crow laws only applied to African Americans who could not attend white schools, go into white restaurants, sit in the same waiting rooms at the doctor’s office, use the same restrooms or drink from the same fountains, etc.

This is not a white America, it is an America of all people no matter your race, skin color, religion, gender, or national origin. H.D. CLAY Little Rock