‘Roseanne’ and Race Politics in America Today

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/opinion/roseanne-barr-race-politics.html

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To the Editor:

Re “ ‘Roseanne’ Self-Destructs With a Racist Tweet” (front page, May 30):

So, it has come to this: ABC, a television network, has stepped up to fill the void created by Republican leaders as we face life without moral leadership in the White House.

PETER KEATING, CHARLESTOWN, R.I.

To the Editor:

Whether canceling “Roseanne” is an act of corporate bravery or just retribution, the fact remains that the public shaming of Roseanne Barr will do nothing to change her heart about her feelings about African-Americans and may in fact intensify the feeling of persecution felt by those people who share her rancid point of view.

The real teaching moment is for liberals to stop feeling so morally superior when we stand up to racism in this way and learn that to change people’s outlook, you have to persuade them through example that they will be better people if they eschew their racist tendencies and recognize the humanity that exists in all of us.

MICHAEL SCOTT, SAN FRANCISCO

To the Editor:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s comment that the administration has “a lot bigger things going on now” than to weigh in on Roseanne Barr’s racism is a perfect example of white privilege. Too bad Ms. Sanders and others who share her blasé attitude toward the racism that minorities feel daily couldn’t attend Starbucks’s training day on race bias in America.

APRIL HOFFMAN, ORO VALLEY, ARIZ.