‘A model of the country’

Seeking change

Regarding “Fellow Republicans, our party must evolve,” (A15, Feb. 3): Legislation to end racial inequities in our society has been passed, but the people and politicians adhering to an ideology of inequity live on. They are present in our neighborhoods, policing, health care system, churches, education system and as business owners. They are also all of us African Americans who, as Martin Luther King Jr. said in his Birmingham eulogy, “passively accepted the evil system of segregation and who (have) stood on the sidelines in a mighty struggle for justice.”

Pearland is not “a model for the country.” It is “a model of the country.” Several opportunities to solve recurring, complex problems of inequity and racial injustice exist. Republicans remain quiet and do not act. Yet, ideologues perpetuating these same ills are re-elected.

Ideologies of racial inequity from generations past are eroding the GOP. They manifest in political signs displaying “Don’t vote for what you fled!” paid for by the Brazoria County GOP here in Pearland. If the party’s evolution to embrace the humanity of all the people it seeks to govern means it can no longer embrace some of the values espoused by its most loyal and largest generational voting bloc, is the GOP ready for change? Rather, are conservatives courageous enough to seek it?

Quentin Wiltz, Pearland