I am replying to two letters published on May 14. The first, “Egregious cartoon missed the point,” tells us an African -American shot a police officer for no reason. The writer goes on to say what he thinks is wrong with African- Americans in general. If the officer was shot for no reason, then what does the color of the assailant have to do with it, let alone African-Americans in general? 

The second, “Crackdown warranted on radical Islamists,” targets radical Islam but really means Islam. The writer warns us that they have been at war with civilization since Tripoli when President Jefferson sent in the marines to stop the Islamic pirates. The Tripoli affair involved many things; an increase in ransom to pirates raiding all commerce, as do the Somali pirates, but also, in Jefferson’s case, profitable employment of America’s idle warships. Religion, radical or otherwise, has nothing to do with it, then or now. 

The American Heritage dictionary defines prejudice as the irrational suspicion of a particular group, race or religion. While it well defines the content of these letters, a much better word is garbage. Please do not print garbage. 

Barry Boodman

Mystic