Letter of the Week: It’s time to erase racial fear

What is the fear? African-Americans are only 13 percent of the population, yet there are gerrymandered districts that dilute the power of the black vote.

When President Barack Obama was elected, there was an all-out rush to buy weapons and form patriot and militia groups. Yet we gained our rights by being nonviolent.

What is the fear? I have seen a resurgence in discrimination in our voting rights as the Supreme Court has repealed sections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. I have seen an increase in the number of African-Americans who are stopped, searched and humiliated just for being black and an increase in the killing of unarmed blacks.

What is the fear? We have no animosity toward the police; we just want equal service and equal protection.

What is the fear? God did not give us the spirit of fear — only the spirit of love.

Michael Luster of Kansas City is a 1963 graduate of Central High School and 2010 graduate of Western Baptist Bible College. He is married and has six children, close to a dozen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He has managed area grocery stores and is semiretired.

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 10:00 AM with the headline "Letter of the Week: It’s time to erase racial fear."