To the Editor:

I am writing in response to the Altamont Enterprise editorial of Feb. 16.

There have been racial accusations levied against Senator Jeff Sessions. However, Mr. Sessions has now been confirmed as our new attorney general.

In contrast, this editorial led me to reflect on Barack Obama’s past. The most disturbing was his two-decade attendance at the Trinity United Church of Christ. The pastor of this church, Jeremiah Wright, married the Obamas and also baptized their two children. One would have to conclude that their involvement in the church was more than superficial.

Pastor Wright called upon God to damn America, felt the 911 attack was justified, calling it, “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.” Further, pastor Wright is completely anti-semitic and supports the minister, Louis Farrakhan who openly shares the same views. Barack Obama also had ties to the man.

Of course when Obama sought the nomination for the United States presidency, he denounced the comments of these two men, but never the men. Both of these religious leaders continued to support Obama. In fact, Louis Farrakhan said, he understood that Obama must distance himself from him as he might lose the support of the Jewish community.

The news media gave Obama a big pass on these issues, stating that Obama has evolved, whatever that truly means.

My point being, let’s give Jeff Sessions an opportunity to prove who he really is by his actions. Perhaps he also has evolved.

William Kowal

Westerlo

Editor’s note: Our Feb. 16 editorial was praising the idea of patriotism espoused by Stephen Tompkins, who is standing each day in Voorheesville’s park with a sign — he believes each person can make a difference. His sign on the day we drove by said, “Nevertheless, she persisted,” referencing Senator Elizabeth Warren’s persistence in trying to read a letter Coretta Scott King wrote about Jeff Sessions in 1986 when he was up for a federal judgeship. “The irony of Mr. Sessions’ nomination is that, if confirmed, he will be given life tenure for doing with a federal prosecution what the local sheriffs accomplished 20 years ago with clubs and cattle prods,” King wrote.

William Kowal’s quotation from Wright is referencing an interview of former Ambassador Edward Peck that Wright saw on Fox News, about which Wright said, “This is a white man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out...that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Muhammad was in fact true — America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”