Lee Gargagliano

OPINION Readers sound off
USA TODAY Published 7:00 a.m. ET Aug. 10, 2019
Letter to the editor:

This weekend, when I heard about the white nationalist hate-fueled mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, a place where I once worked and studied, I went through a range of emotions. I experienced shock, concern for my loved ones, sadness, and rage. I’m stuck on rage.

My rage is directed at white nationalists who claim that their inhuman acts are in the service of protecting America for white people. They are attacking and killing people of color and have the nerve to say that they are somehow doing it on my behalf.

White people, what are we going to do about this?

I am channeling my rage into responsibility. It is my responsibility to reclaim my voice and use it in the service of making the world more just. I am making a commitment, and I invite my fellow white people to join me. I commit to working with people to dismantle racism whether it expresses itself in the hand holding a gun or the hand signing an executive order.

Now is the time to speak out in every space we’re in. Now is the time to build organizations to combat racism. Now is the time to deny white nationalism its base of white people.

Lee Gargagliano; Oakland, Calif.