To the editor:

I am writing in response to Michael Byrnes' letter to the editor in last weeks paper, and to give my opinion about the BLM Mural recently put up in a courtyard at the Mt. Hope High School.

It is the dangerous and foolhardy opinions of "Americans" like Michael Byrnes that have created the need for groups like BLM. As a history teacher, I can tell you all of these people Byrnes mentioned, like Douglas, Lincoln, MLK, would be shocked to see that all of their efforts were being undone. They would absolutely agree that there is still no equality in this nation if you are a black American.

As far as Byrne's quote about BLM being about "...grievances and resentment." Of course they are resentful! Black Americans have been discriminated against since our country started. How foolish it is to say America wasn't a systematically racist country? It started that way! We have made leaps and bounds but racism is still deeply embedded in the core of what our country is. His opinion, like so many other opinions on this subject, comes from someone who lacks perspective, and clearly wants things to return to the ways they used to be, when black Americans’ problems were mostly ignored.

I am ashamed to live in a country where we even still need to say black lives matter. And I'm proud to live in Warren, where the mural at the High School gives me hope that this community can embrace diversity and change. Hopefully the opinions of Cold War enthusiast Michael Byrnes do not speak for the rest of the town we live in. Readers like him forget history. I hope we can do better as a country, and soon. Keep that mural up, Marxist hands and all!

Joe Solomon
Metacom Avenue