Contrary to media reports, racism is not the greatest problem in U.S. nor the world

It seems to me that the media puts more attention on this race issue than the race hustlers. My late Japanese wife of 42 years and I lived in Dothan, Alabama, for eight years. The 350 employees of my company treated her with honest courtesy at our company get-togethers. She mentioned to me that Spokane was a prejudiced city but she put that up to lack of education. Her English was limited when she came to the states but with study and determination over the years she had successful and well-paying jobs.

While racism (and tribalism) is a problem around the world it is not the greatest one, and it slowly improves with time and the economic betterment and education of it’s people. I say this as one who has been to 57 countries and lived in three of them in my 55-year business career.

Two of my six great-grandchildren from my first wife have a black mother and live in Oregon with their father. I have never heard them speak of racism but assume they have been around it to some degree. But then they have a loving father.

But the drum beat of the media has just gone crazy in the past 10 years. It seems to be the worst problem in the country in their view, a marked distortion from reality. But perhaps there should be an honest study of American black culture. After all, people from Haiti, the Philippines, India and assorted countries and Asians have all immigrated to America and toughed it out to success. My goodness, I wonder how that happened.

In my view the media and the education leaders are scared to death to make an honest study of the problem because they fear that the race hustlers will call them racists, a term that no longer has it’s original meaning.

Jack Thompson

Spokane