I commend The St. Louis American for running Blake Strode’s editorial “In politics, all kinfolk are not skinfolk.” I believe that both blacks and whites need to heed Strode’s advice to consider a candidate’s past actions and policy, and not primarily skin color, and that to some degree many are increasingly more willing to do so.
Twenty years ago when Freeman Bosley Jr. ran for mayor and Jim Shrewsbury for comptroller, I was greatly concerned about racial inequity and division. I asked each candidate to endorse the other and run as a black/white team. They declined. I got large signs from each campaign and had a third one printed that said “For A Whole St. Louis” and erected a single 12-foot-high sign with all three messages in my front yard. A storm blew down the sign before the deadline given by the city to remove the “illegal” sign.
Jim Roos
St. Louis
