Dear Editor:
I was bemused and offended to read Alicia Szendiuch’s letter to the editor August 9). Ms. Szendiuch seems to imply with a broad brush that the Ukrainian American community is racist. For five decades, I have witnessed how compassionate, caring and helpful many Ukrainian Americans can be in their treatment of people of other races.
Whether as teachers, firefighters, volunteers or EMTs, many Ukrainians have risked their lives to help perfect strangers. When our forefathers came to this country, they worked in solidarity with Black factory workers and often struggled for more humane working conditions, fair wages and the right to organize unions. There are also many Ukrainian Americans who served side by side with Black and Hispanic servicemen during both world wars, in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan in all branches of the military.
To be sure, we all need to remain vigilant against racism, and to defend the principles of our “Pledge of Allegiance,” which culminates with the words “and justice for all” (not just for the privileged few).
The beauty of the American Dream flows from its vision of a “more perfect union” that can overcome the legacy of slavery, racism and prejudice and injustice. But to single out Ukrainian Americans as being particularly racist is unfair and unfounded.
John Bodnar
New Haven, Conn.