LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Milley left miss real threats

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

In recent testimony before Congress, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that he was studying “white rage” in order to understand it and that the biggest threat to this country is from right-wing extremists (“If critical race theory is correct, is America worth defending?” Web, June 29).  It sounds as if Milley has been reading Robin DiAngelo’s “White Fragility.” The premise of that book is patently absurd. DiAngelo posits that having white skin automatically makes a person an oppressor and a racist, and being born Black automatically makes a person oppressed and a non-racist. This is contradicted by evidence all around us.

President Obama was not elected twice just by the 12% of the population that shares his skin color. This notion that all Black people are opporessed is also insulting to Black doctors, lawyers, scientists and business people, because it presumes they could have only achieved their status with the help of whites. Worst of all, it assumes we have no freedom of choice. Compared to other countries and societies, the U.S. has achieved enormous progress in inter-ethnic tolerance. We don’t practice genocide against minorities, as happened recently in numerous countries, such as Rwanda and Burundi. We don’t imprison Muslims like the Uyghurs or harvest the organs of the Falung Gong, as the Chinese are doing right now. And we no longer practice slavery, which is still practiced today in parts of Africa and the Middle East.

Contrary to the 1619 Project, we also didn’t invent slavery; it existed in North America and Africa long before Europeans arrived. But the U.S. went to war at great cost to end slavery. We are now a multi-racial society with every shade of skin coloring possible, not just a “black and white” country.

Perhaps Milley should stop reading rubbish like “White Fragility” and focus on this country’s real threat, which comes from countries such as China, Iran and Russia.

OLGA WELLER

Healsburg, Calif,

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