Dear Editor:

(I’m writing) in response to Walter M. Washington’s letter to the editor titled “Race Relations,” which was published in the Herald’s January 14th newspaper.

Mr. Washington maintains that the judge in the Marcus Isreal murder case overstepped his bounds, when speaking to Mr. Isreal about racism of the past. The judge told Mr. Isreal, that he was lucky to have made it to trial, because years ago a black men accused of killing a white policeman may have been killed before getting to trial.

The judge imparted a histo ry lesson during Mr. Isreal’s sentencing and there was nothing that anyone should be upset about. Most African Americans know that black prisoners often times did not survive an arrest after being suspected of killing a white person, and especially a white policeman.

What I would like to say is that Mr. Isreal was 23 years old and not a teenager at the time of his arrest. It may sound good to call Mr. Isreal a teen, but he was and is not a teen. I’m sure Mr. Isreal understood what the Judge was telling him. Hopefully other young men put in the same position will just put over and not make such a bad decision that ends a human life.

I appreciate the Honorable Judge James Flannery’s honesty about the history of abuse and racism in the American police department. Racism is a part of American history and we cannot afford to think that racial conflict does not happen and will continue to happen in 2012.

It’s good to think that we no longer have racism in this country and that we are all united in these United States, but the fact is there is much more work to do. Gregory Howard Cincinnati