Dear Editor:

Thank goodness we all live in the United States and celebrate the right to free speech! I would like to write to stand in agreement with Mr. Fred Nehring on the idea of recognizing senseless, racially motivated murder.

From the end of the Civil War to the end of World War II, more than 4,000 people of color were lynched in the South. This division of mentalities still exists.

We, as Mainers, are living in the second “whitest” state in the nation. However, it remains our responsibility as children, teens, adults, parents and elders to break this stereotype of hatred.

Babies are not born knowing the teachings of hatred, prejudice and racism. They have to be taught these ideas. Until each individual person accepts his/her responsibility to search for the human component that runs through every person instead of the differences, these “heinous” crimes will continue.

The ideas of separatists, racists and inequalities have been present in our nation since its inception. It is the idea of a possibility that we, as a united race of humans, have the chance to move this mentality to a different point of discussion, the idea of commonality instead of difference. It is only then that we may change our daily dialogues and discussions from senseless, racially motivated murders to celebrations and successes.

Paula Gerencer

Bowdoin