To the Editor:
February is Black History Month, and the following are three African-Americans who had the character and courage to push ahead and made our country a better place for our families.
Bass Reeves (1838-1910) was born a slave. When he turned 26, he became a Deputy U.S. Marshall in Oklahoma. During his 32 years of wearing the iron star, he won a reputation as the “most feared U.S. Marshall in the Indian Territory.” Reeves found a place for himself in law enforcement by virtue of his intelligence and his other abilities.
Walter Williams (1936-2020) was drafted in 1959. At the conclusion of his service, he sent a question to his Commander-in-Chief, John Kennedy, “Should negroes be relieved of their service obligation or continue defending and dying for empty promises of freedom and equality?” Williams’ career as a Libertarian Public Intellectual was tempered by his regard for the ideas of the founding of America. I heard him talk about our capitalist system. As an example, he pointed out that Bill Gates made money because he made something or did something that pleased others. Other people wanted what Gates had, so they gave him money for what they wanted.
Thomas Sowell (1930-present) wrote the book “Basic Economics,” which has been translated into six languages; a book that I have no hope of understanding. However, another book he wrote, “Intellectuals and Society,” is well worth reading because it answers so many of the questions about what is going on in America today. Sowell displays a great deal of that increasingly uncommon quality, common sense.
These men are some of our best. They make use of what our Lord gave them, and then some.
J.J. Burnes
King City
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