To the Editor:
Can you tell a person's race merely by the color of their skin? Apparently, H. Jay Spiegel can.
In my comments defending Del. Scott Surovell's support of HB16 in the March 14 edition of the Mount Vernon Gazette, there is no mention of race as an "African American." I purposely used the term "non-whites" particularly since there are more than two races and more than one non-white race. Besides, the issue was about restoration of voting rights for certain non-violent felons and HB16 covers the issue regardless of race.
It’s reasonable to assume that the “one drop” rule was used to determine my race. Mr. Spiegel made a point to state that, according to him, I am an African American but failed to mention his race. Mr. Spiegel did not ask me my race and based on his visual of my skin color labeled me as an African American. Am I? Guess what Mr. Spiegel, thanks to my ancestors and for you only, you can label me as a Native American, which is a non-white, since I have the legal blood percentage to do so. So, don't judge a book by its cover — read the chapters and ask questions to get the full understanding of its contents.
Queenie Cox