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Dear Editor:

I was dismayed to read the Opinion article, “Racism is not the Prevalent Problem that Dems Suggest, April 23,” by Michael Reagan, in a newspaper whose former editor was Lou Major. As reported in his recently published memoir, “Against the Klan (LSU Press),” Mr. Major took a courageous stance against the Klan, its enablers and their often-lethal racism in Bogalusa in the 1960s.

The facts posited in Mr. Reagan’s Opinion article, which he used to deny endemic racism in the United States, are largely inaccurate and promote white victimhood and resentment. Racism is a prevalent problem — as proven by, among other evidence, the much higher incarceration rate of black compared to white citizens; that less than 1 percent of police who kill a black citizen are found guilty; that voting laws like those recently passed in Georgia are clearly designed to reduce minority participation; and that health outcomes (newborn and maternal mortality rates, life expectancy) are much worse for blacks than for whites.

Lou Major, who worked at The Daily News for some 50 years, would have been disappointed with the turn that it has taken in publishing without editorial rebuttal Michael Reagan’s unreasoned screed.

Dr. Stanley Rapoport

Washington, D.C.