However, there was one sentence I had a problem with. In describing the atmosphere at the time of the riot Calero wrote, "Over this same period the practice of lynching criminals became more directed against Blacks." In my opinion the word criminal should not be used to describe the victims of lynchings.

Ida Wells investigated 728 lynchings at a time when they were routinely being carried out in this country.

Wells concluded that most victims were killed for alleged crimes like "incendiarism," "race prejudice," "quarreling with whites," and "making threats."

Wells gave an example of one of the more horrible lynchings. "So great is the southern prejudice, they...hung poor little 13-year-old Mildrey Brown at Columbia, South Carolina, Oct. 7 on circumstantial evidence that she poisoned a white infant.

"If her guilt had been proven unmistakable, had she been white, Mildrey Brown would never have been hung. The country would have been aroused and South Carolina disgraced forever."

Steve Halpern
Philadelphia, Pennsylania

[Editors note: The report by the Oklahoma Commission on the Tulsa Race Riots refers to lynchings of white "criminals" who were convicted or accused of crimes. Over the course of several years in the early 1900s Blacks became the main target of lynch mobs.]
 
 
Suggestions for coverage
I enjoy the recent articles focused on the American spy plane event. Those reports did not appear in the imperialist-control media like CNN. Some suggestions: 1. Increase the contents about the situation of Native Americans. 2. Increase the contents about the indigenous people--how they struggle for equality. Thank you very much.

David Szutu
by e-mail
 
 
DEA and Amtrak
A recent editorial in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, Journal Opinion stated, "If you decide to travel by [Amtrak] train and purchase a ticket on the Southwest Chief...an agent may be watching on a computer" checking all information about the passenger.

The agent mentioned is not an Amtrak ticketing agent, but an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). While media coverage of this arrangement has focused on Albuquerque, a New York Times article quotes an Amtrak spokeswoman as saying, "This program exists all across the country." In return for the information provided, Amtrak receives 10 percent of any assets seized from suspected drug runners arrested either on the train or in the Albuquerque station.

Ostensibly, the objective is to interrupt the trafficking of drugs on passenger trains. But alerted to the presence of a Vietnamese passenger, the DEA searched the man's room and belongings, finding $149,000. In spite of the fact that drugs were not found and the DEA did not charge the passenger with any crime, the DEA has yet to return $148,000 of the passenger's money.

In response to editorials saying the practice violates constitutional rights and criticism of racial profiling, the assistant special agent in charge of the Albuquerque office explained that the methods used do not involve any racial profiling, "The bottom line is we do not engage in racial profiling. Crime is universal. We arrest people of all races," he said.

Shirley Peña
Albany, California

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people.

Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
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