Tone it down
Charles L. Schaefer - Emporia
Thursday, December 27, 2007
YOU SAY no more Somalis — I say no more bigots and bigotry.
I am responding to Fran Outten and the flippant tone of her letter.
The only thing I can say at this point is that you have raised some old feelings that I thought I had buried deep and forgot about until now.
From what I can tell, you forgot what it was like in the 1960s and 1970s during the race riots. I have not.
During this time of the riots down in the deep south of this country, we had a powder keg here in Emporia that could have gone to hell. The way I understand it from that time, a group was coming out of the Kansas City area to keep the kettle stirred.
This group was met by those involved here who told them to go home and that Emporia would solve its own problems without outside help.
This helped defuse the whole situation here in Emporia.
All it will take is EFFORT on both sides to understand these people.
Both sides need to work to understand and to get along with each other.
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