Response to a Leonard J. Pitts Jr. article

Response to your article dated 3/14/2010 entitled
“A reminder that evil comes in all genders and colors”

Writing to you after reading one of your articles is becoming a habit for me. I only do so when it contains racial content. This one was a real stretch.
You are elated that a potential terrorist was not only white but also a diminutive American female. Most of your article was devoted to hammering other columnists that over the years since 9/11/2001, have called for the common sense profiling of Arabic men who fit the profile of those who died while carrying out their dastardly deed. I could give you a hundred or more examples of other terrorist atrocities over the past decade. I am sure you are well aware, so I won’t clutter this note by listing them. As for Colleen LaRose, there was ample evidence for our security forces to stop her from committing the violence she was planning.
Norman Mineta was the Secretary of Transportation under President George Bush at the time of 9/11. He was interviewed on 60 Minutes and stated firmly that profiling would not be allowed. This was quite understandable from his standpoint since his parents of Japanese descent had been incarcerated at the beginning of WWII, unjustly as it turned out. The outrage of Americans to the acts committed on “A date that will live in infamy”, was the justification.
What is happening worldwide today is something altogether different. The radical Muslim leadership is committed to converting the entire planet to their beliefs. Only if you bury your head in sand can you ignore this fact. At the time I tried to make sense out of profiling by stating that if the Irish Republican Army was intending to attack us, then we should take special steps to look for white, blue eyed Irishmen. The fact is they aren’t but Arabic Muslim men and women are. They will strike us again if they can. Taking precautions of checking country of origin or profiling makes sense to me. No matter how you look at it, LaRose was an aberration.
I do agree with your final comment that evil comes in all guises. No argument here.
Yours Truly,


Jack B. Walters
March 14,2010