Meleah Maynard’s article [“I Against I,” May] was well written, informative, and palpable. Maynard is right on point that just being “black” does not make one community. The Somalis and African Americans are going through the same integration problems that waves of immigrants have been experiencing for centuries—Italians versus the Irish at the turn of the last century, or Mexicans versus Puerto Ricans in New York City today. It is a far greater challenge to find ways to live peacefully than to find reasons to be divided. Kudos to all the students, principals, and everyone else involved for thoughtfully handling “the forced integration far beyond the bounds of what Brown v. Topeka Board of Education encompassed.”
Phyllis Brower
Brooklyn, NY
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