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To the editor:

I want to say thank you to Tracy Agnew for the column in Sunday’s paper (“We have to do better,” May 31). Those were words we needed to see.

Watching TV Saturday was overwhelming. It felt like we were back in 1968 again. It was like we had made no progress. But we have made progress. It is not 1968.

In 1968, every neighborhood was segregated. Now every neighborhood I walk in is integrated.

In 1968, having a black family in the White House was impossible to even consider. Now it has already happened.

In 1968, nearly all the protesters were black. Now, sometimes, nearly all the protesters are white.

In 1968, I didn’t have any black friends. Now I have more than I can count. Some I love like family.

I have a request for my fellow white people. If you have any black people in your life whom you love, speak up. Let the racists among us know you’re not one of them. Help them to see they’re the real minority.

I say this to our dear president. A few months ago, on the National Day of Prayer, a preacher said to you, “Love your enemies and pray for your persecutors.” You said you didn’t agree with that. Mr. President, those are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are written in the Bible you had in your hands Monday.

Please, Mr. President, I beg of you, open that Bible and read the words written in the first book of John. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”

Tom M. Moore

Suffolk