I am writing in response to Sally Forences’ letter headlined “Violence means rioters are winning” (Herald, May 17). I hear many people expressing the same sentiments based on the same assumptions that Florence does. I have so many questions for them that I don’t know where to start. So, I would ask all of them to consider learning about the historical relationship between police and the African-American community, as well as “institutional racism” and “bias.”

If you care to consider a different perspective, I would like to share a few resources that may offer a different perspective: Everyday Bias, by Howard J. Ross; What White People need to know, and do, after Ferguson, by Sally Kohn; Repetitive Motion Disorder: Black Reality and White Denial in America, by Tim Wise; Straight Talk for White Men, by Nicholas Kristof; How racist policy paved the 100 year road to Ferguson’s slum, by Frank Vyan Walton; and The Making of Ferguson, by Richard Rothstein Economic Policy Institute.

Though I do not condone riots, I do understand the feelings that produce them, whether they be the Ferguson or Baltimore riot, sporting event riot or a “Bundy” Nevada standoff. Let us all at least start by trying to walk in someone else’s shoes. And to do that, you have to get to know at least a little about them from their perspective.

Lisa Eason

Durango