Letters

摘要

I have spent more than 30 years studying the experience of racial minorities in the United States. I went from the barrios of Compton, Calif., to schools like Princeton and Columbia, and I am now a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas. Crossing such different spaces has engaged my curiosity and reflexivity. In "Who We Are Now" (Jan. 26), people of color come across as an intersection between Hurricane Katrina and Ellis Island-we are historically framed as a demographic hurricane and we are periodically framed as part of the "newsegregated, and no black person would dare come to your front door, go to a white restaurant or fail to step off the sidewalk to let you pass. We did not hate blacks; we just did not think of them as real people with real feelings. On Nov. 4, without giving it a thought, I voted for a black man for president. Race-for or against-had nothing to do with my vote. It was not an issue, and only after the election did the significance become clear to me. We have overcome fear and hatred, and I am looking toward the future with optimism.