Ellington

I have just read "Stop Bragging, America" by Kamikaze in the May 8-14 edition of the JFP. While I will concede that America is not a perfect country and there have been events in our history about which we should not brag, I think "Mr. Kamikaze" should include a little balance before making his blanket denunciation.

For example, "this America" about which he writes has on at least three occasions—World Wars I and II and Korea—sent millions of her young men and women to do battle. They were not sent to conquer, but to help free the world from despots and tyrants who slaughtered millions in Europe and Asia. After defeating our enemies, "this America" did not subjugate the conquered nations, but brought her young men and women home, established democratic governments and spent billions helping the defeated nations recover.

"This America" has put its brightest minds to work to develop vaccines and drugs to conquer diseases, such as small pox and polio, which have ravaged the world. "This America" has sent its citizens and billions of dollars in aid to countries that have suffered natural disasters, helped rebuild ravaged lands and helped make a better life for many in all world countries, including this country. No country in the history of the world has ever matched our generosity and compassion.

So "Mr. Kamikaze," how about a little balance before you condemn "this America" as "arrogant and annoying." It's the people of this country that make us great, not the government, and I'll always be proud to brag about the people of "this America."

And by the way, if you want any credibility, you need to correct your statement that " haven't seen anyone refute the facts Wright presented" since it is patently false. Maybe you weren't paying attention when everyone—supporters and foes alike—condemned Wright's ludicrous statement that the AIDS virus was invented by the U.S. government to perpetrate genocide on minorities. Many other of his "facts" were also equally denounced. Does the statement about Louis Farrakhan being a great mind of the 20th and 21st centuries ring a bell?

Don Michael
Madison

Do Something Positive
Mr. Lambus, I commend you for finishing school; I too attended Jackson State University. I saw your letter in the JFP about "Uneducated Black Males." I agree with what you said to a certain extent, however, to say you hate young black males, that the next generation of them will be rapists, robbers and murderers, and when you see a group of young black males together, you automatically think they're up to no good proves how we as blacks tend to put each other down.

You have to understand that these young men did not pick up these habits from thin air. They learned them from someone in a generation before them. When you think about young men joining gangs or hanging with the wrong crew, it all goes back to wanting to be accepted and feeling cared about because many of them had no father coming up.

It takes a village to raise a child. We need to educate our brothers and not be so quick to stamp a label on them. Some of our most courageous and memorable leaders—like Malcolm X—changed their path from a life of destruction. Yes, God has always been on our side, and sometimes we don't appreciate that as we should, but I also believe that everything has a purpose and when you see something wrong happening, that you should do something positive about it. God wants us to.

Nicole Shelby
May 14, 2008
Jackson