Register columnist is right on the money

This letter is about James Walker’s courageous and honest columns, which appear every Sunday in the New Haven Register. One of his recent columns was about how he felt he had failed a person who might have been reaching out to him for help because the person looked as if he might be dangerous. The column made a powerful point.

We are all so afraid of each other. Nice, middle class people, no matter their color, are scared of people who wear rags, sit too close to them on railroad benches, and try to bum a cigarette. We don’t know them, we don’t trust them, and we’re scared of them. And, as Walker so courageously pointed out, in feeling this way perhaps we miss an opportunity to aid someone who is crying out for help.

I vividly remember the first of Walker’s columns that struck me. It was about the many times over the years his car was stopped by the police — for no identifiable reason other than that he was black. We’re talking here about a nicely dressed, middle-class citizen with a good job and a family he takes care of. Why would you stop such a person? This may make me sound naïve, but I was truly shocked by the harassment he had to endure over the years.

Another of Walker’s virtues is that he sees moral trespasses on both sides of the color line. His column, “I am not your baby’s father,” was so true. Years ago, I was a caseworker in the south Bronx for N.Y.C. Social Services, and I saw the same “baby boom” Walker was writing about.

So here is the point of this letter — if you haven’t been reading James Walker, then I suggest you start right now.