This in reference to the Sun Journal article of Nov. 22, “No charges for store’s ‘shot gun pool’ sign.”

Hate crimes against any minority group are unacceptable, and should be, to all Mainers, and Americans.

The history of white Americans’ prejudice regarding African-Americans has begun to slowly heal. That prejudice has been a great shame to our nation founded on the freedoms of the individual. It has been our “great hypocrisy.”

The election of Barack Obama as our president is a welcome sign of the distance we have come in our nation.

We must not forget, however, how cruel we of white skin have been to African-Americans, and could be again, if we forget what we have done. We have seen recently that the cruelty is still alive in some troubled individuals in our state and nation.

We must hold citizens accountable for their hate crimes, those who make threats or encourage violence against African-Americans, especially an elected president. Those of us who have witnessed the assassination of a president and other public figures know just how real it is.

We must not turn our backs on the hate aspect of the Standish “assassination pool.” We must understand its reality. We must not do nothing, hope it will go away, allowing it to fester and grow in the dark.

Tom Fallon, Rumford