On Sunday, Louis Farrakhan was on “Meet the Press.” One of the more idiotic things he said was, “There is a responsibility on the part of the white male to rectify the wrong that was done by former generations.” Just what does he have in mind? Could it be … money?

Does Farrakhan plan to include the descendants of the Africans who gladly and profitably participated in the slave trade? Are there any blacks in the U.S. who are descendants of Africans who owned and sold other blacks?

If so, are they going to be required to “rectify the wrong” done to other blacks? Maybe it’s OK in the eyes of Farrakhan for blacks to own and sell other blacks. Maybe slavery is only evil when whites are profiting.

Farrakhan also urged blacks to stay home from work or school. This kind of “leadership” does nothing but promote racial division. If Farrakhan really wanted blacks to succeed in this country, he would not be calling for rectification, whatever that means.

The first thing he could do is tell black people to drop the ‘African’ and keep the American in their vocabulary. Racial division is never going to end discrimination. He could call for all black students to stay after school and study harder on trouble spots in their curriculum.

If they’re already A-students, he could suggest they read a challenging book or talk to a business person for a couple of hours and ask them how they spend their day.

Maybe a successful black entrepreneur could meet with groups of black students and tell them how they can succeed in this country.

There are countless examples of how Farrakhan could influence black people in a positive way, if he really cared about them.

Dan McLeran

Senior

Chemical engineering