Kathleen Parker wrote in her June 7 Sunday Opinion column, “America is a hair trigger away from more disaster,” “And just as importantly, who gets to talk? Not white people, apparently, unless they’re willing to check their privilege, at least in the view of some who demonstrate.”

White people in America have been doing the majority of the talking for some 250 years, giving way to black voices of their approval only on occasion. Perhaps it is time they sit and listen. Only then can we have a true dialogue of equals.

Jeffrey Joseph, Arlington

My takeaway from Kathleen Parker’s June 7 column was her sense of fear that there may be more looting or rioting, that who “gets to talk” may be “not white people, apparently,” that we will descend into anarchy or authoritarianism. Those are possibilities. But no great opportunity comes without great risks. 

This movement is a wake-up call for many people who believe deeply in our Constitution’s guarantee of liberty and justice for all but who have been guilty of silence and inaction. How we respond matters. It is time for white people to stop talking and start listening, to examine the “white-privilege chestnut.” It is time to identify with the abuses my black and brown neighbors experience every day. It is time to correct injustice; we can begin by voting this November.

My predominant fear is that this moment will fade and we will revert to the status quo. We cannot let that happen. In 1776, a small band of patriots pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to the ideals the United States embodies today. That time was no less dangerous or controversial than this. I hope the majority of Americans are possessed of enough wisdom, vision and courage to rise to the challenge of forging “a more perfect union” with every one of our countrymen. 

Anne A. Whitelaw, Hume