Steven J. Hovey: U.S. not South Africa

In response to the Jan. 24 Point of View “A lingering legacy of racial oppression” by Tom Kelley: He is very rhapsodic in his detail of the woes of post-apartheid South Africa and the failure of U.S. foreign policy to address it.

Then with no evidence to support his claim, he attributed the same failures in South Africa with the current perceived state of race relations in the U.S., as if our nation is in lock-step with South African politics.

We have had nearly eight years of an administration that has gone out of its way in exacerbating the situation and fostering increasing divisiveness among all races.

Perhaps Kelley’s article would have benefited from specifics of how to address the problem rather than choosing the most extreme example of race division in modern history and using a broad brush to say “same here.” There is no problem in society that cannot be made worse by whining about it.

The disparity evident in wealth and income has always existed and should rightfully be addressed. However, care must be taken not to artificially impose “equality” by using a “Robin Hood” approach. Communism has already proven to be a false solution.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Steven J. Hovey: U.S. not South Africa."