With the events in Ferguson, Missouri, revealing to all Americans this past week just how far we have not come in race relations, I think we need to reach out to reliable black voices. We may feel removed in Bellingham from what is happening in Ferguson, but we should not. Those of us who are white do enjoy extra and unfair privileges over those who are not. If you want our country to make real progress, then we need to make real efforts to learn and understand the perspective and experiences of Blacks and other so called minorities in America. And turn that into action and laws and civil government practices.

Ta-Nehisi Coates is a young and very talented writer and thinker. I have been reading him for only a few months, but have been very impressed with his thinking. His blog is carried on The Atlantic website. He has an ability to explain to me what the issues are and why I should care. He came to my attention as his new book came out suggesting that reparations should be made to the Black people of the United States for the wrongs done them in the past hundred years. At first this can seem absurd, but that is because it is a new idea. He is a writer that we can benefit from reading. His permanent link is in the right column under “Good Web Sites”.

- John Servais