To the Editor:

Sometimes we do not recognize racism when it exists.

The Crossgates/Pyramid controversy involving Costco and the road to connect Western Avenue to Washington is an example of racism [“Rapp Road redux, The Altamont Enterprise, March 28, 2019; “Guilderland moves to require Pyramid outline all planned projects, The Altamont Enterprise, July 18, 2019].

Crossgates is quite willing to accept all persons — Black, Brown, and white — as customers at the Mall.

On the other hand, Crossgates is unwilling to build a road to connect Western to Washington that would re-route the increased traffic away from the historic Black community on Rapp Road.

The present route, the one that Pyramid/Crossgates prefers, will cause more harm to the Rapp Road community.

The historic Black community recognizes this and has been fighting Crossgates — but with no sign of a compromise from Pyramid/Crossgates.

This is racism — work without equal pay, taxes without equal public services, housing without comparable rents, and so forth.

If you accept the minority community as customers then you have to treat them as equals — saying no or ignoring their demands are not options.

But that is what Crossgates has done.

So to all persons in the Capital Region, if you want to fight racism, then you should avoid the Crossgates Mall until the historic Black community on Rapp Road gets a traffic pattern for the new Costco that will not permanently harm its community. 

Don Reeb

Guilderland