Dear Mr. Waldron,

I fear that you have been taken in by the president’s latest attempt to create a distraction from the unfortunate situations he is facing.

In this case, patriotism is the distraction. The protests by the athletes are not “grandstanding” but sincere attempts to call attention to very real problems.

You do not seem to realize that in this country you are so proud of, we have a long and disgraceful history of violence against black people. This is what the athletes are protesting.

The true issue is not patriotism:  it is violent and systemic racism.

You write very eloquently about Americans risking their lives to defend us overseas, but African Americans may risk their lives every day, simply by leaving home.  We have looked the other way when the police officers who should be protecting us gun down black people: a woman getting out of her car with a cell phone in her hand, a 12-year-old with a toy gun, or an unarmed man stopped for a minor traffic violation.

Our system has allowed law enforcement officers to claim that they “feared for their lives” and to get away with murder. It has to stop.

I am a white woman, somewhere near you in age, and (I hope) wisdom. I was raised to love my country and to stand up for the national anthem and salute the flag. But I am agonized that my country treats any of its citizens so horribly, and I am glad to see people, especially athletes in a national arena, raising this issue in any way that they can.

I ask you to explore the situation more deeply and to look at the real reasons behind what you call “grandstanding.” Who are the true patriots here?

Change must happen.

Suzanne Flandreau

Niles