Right from wrong

Joseph Epstein has no understanding of the gravity surrounding Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page (Feb. 10 Forum, “Political Correctness Knows no Statute of Limitations”). He ridicules those who found it offensive and jokes about it, comparing it to pulling a girl’s pigtails.

African-Americans have been the most oppressed people ever on our land. Even following the Civil War, they were lynched, killed, segregated and denied their civil rights. The Ku Klux Klan was and continues to be a hate group whose main purpose for existence is the extermination of black people.

Mr. Northam was in medical school when he put the picture of a Klansman and person in blackface on his yearbook page. He had to have been in his midto late 20s, an adult who should know right from wrong. He wasn’t a fifth-grader and he didn’t pull a girl’s pigtails. He could have put any number of pictures on his page, showing him assisting with an operation, helping his first patient or discussing healthy habits with a group of children. By putting the picture of a Klansman and a person in blackface on his page, even if he is not in the picture as he says, he showed how strongly he felt about the importance of the KKK against black people.

Mr. Epstein should understand it has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with what is right and what is wrong. He needs to quit downplaying the yearbook page and really contemplate the meaning behind it.

TASSIA McCANN Adams Township