BE OUR GUEST: PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN: WHY MAKE THEM SUFFER FOR YOUR SOCIAL COWARDICE?

Michael Sterling is president of the Cape Girardeau chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

As I look at Cape Girardeau as a whole, I can't help but speak out against the injustice I see. Also noting the fact that conditions for blacks and the poor haven't changed that dramatically.

Sure we have a few more jobs but we still have no voice in city government in which we still pay taxes. We have no representation on the school board, bank boards, board of commissioners or any decision-making boards. But we are still expected to play by the rules, pay every tax that is passed; it's like blacks paying taxes on separated and unequal facilities, which has historically been done.

We have blacks that feel they have made it because now they can live in white neighborhoods, go to white churches, send their kids to private schools. They don't realize they're not really appreciated and valued, just tolerated because their income is almost comparable to their white counterparts.

And they deny the fact that what they have is a direct result of civil rights fighters opening the doors for them. And now some have turned their backs on civil rights and have ascended up the ladder of certain success and pulled the ladder up with them. Racism and segregation are far from ending in our city. And we cannot count on the so-called spiritual leaders in the black community to speak out. Most are part of the problem.

We should remember silence all too often gives acquiescence to the situation. This is not the spiritual leadership I was raised with and I'm so glad it wasn't. It is high time for the rich to stop taking advantage of the poor and whites stop feeding off the oppression of blacks. A key element to ending these atrocities is for the people in need to band together, stop making excuses for not challenging discriminations, that age-old excuse in this town. "I'm scared I'll get fired, I'll be put out by my landlord, I don't know how to talk" is just your ticket to sit back and do nothing. We are going to have to expect a little discomfort just to get some grassroots kind of changes in this city. Please think about your children. Why make them suffer for your cowardice?

And finally we all better pray that God does not destroy this city like he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for the evil and wrong doings that have been dealt to certain people. Remember Cape has dodged the bullet when it comes to national disasters. Our time is coming. He is not pleased.