Letters: Prejudice, still

Re “Painful tales of bias in O.C.,” Column, Jan. 12

I recently watched “Mississippi Burning” (about the murder of three civil rights activists in 1964), and there’s a line in the film spoken by a white character, who says that hate isn’t something we’re born with, it’s taught.

As a white person who went to a high school in Los Angeles in the early 1960s that had a majority of black students, I have never understood the judging of people on the basis of skin color.

The fact that this ugly and discriminatory behavior by white Americans is still going on in places like Orange County is absolutely appalling. The only way to counter it is for law enforcement (some of whom are apparently among its practitioners) and the courts to deal very harshly with those who engage in hate crimes, and for the rest of us to lead by example and treat all members of our society with respect.

Marcia Goodman

Long Beach

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