Jun 23, 2021 2 min read

Dave Ball’s June 20 op-ed was another of his radical attempts to frighten by accusation. He used the term Marxism to describe Critical Race Theory (CRT), the examination of racism that is codified in our country’s education, housing and criminal justice systems. Marxism is a term that sometimes scares people because it sounds ominous, but is fundamentally an economic not racial concept. His use of this term is misleading and his rhetoric is unnecessarily inflammatory. It is not, as he suggests, evil and about “white privilege” or teaching people to hate each other, but asks us to consider American history and what role people and institutions played in establishing the practices of exclusion and disadvantage, and there are plenty of well-known examples. Consider our former president whose family companies have a long history of housing discrimination and refusal to rent to whom they termed “welfare recipients.” There are no alternative facts about the imbalance in opportunities that have existed.

Mr. Ball also said CRT was a plan to “resegregate” America because “How else can it be described?” Hopefully, he read the wonderfully positive and enlightening opinion piece by the Rev. Erik Hoeke that appeared alongside his. The reverend said CRT “means learning how to break down discriminatory practices and laws that still exist, teaching these lessons to others, and committing more resources to lifting others up.” He asked that we think of it “as a rising tide that lifts all boats.” We can make progress as a society if we take to heart the reasons why we challenged the yoke of oppression to create America.

I’m hopeful Mr. Ball doesn’t believe everything he thinks.

Bob Willison

Rices Landing