Letters to the Editor
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Lousy advice
First, you admit how culturally/economically/racially-charged such "camouflage" is. Then you tell the LW to "let it go, let it go, let it go".
What's that quote again: all that's necessary for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.
You just told the LW to do nothing. Let the invasion continue. It's not such a big deal. They're just poor, old, sick, marginalized black people, and it doesn't matter if their property is invaded because they have no rights anyway. (Shouldn't they have learned that by now?)
If the invader had someone come in and plant a row of 8' cacti on her property during the night, would she mind? What if it happened to the LW? Would she "let it go, let it go, let it go"? She'd probably be calling her lawyer.
Does it make it OK that the invader planted a nice, flowery species? Does it make it better that the victims are so disenfranchised they are too powerless to do anything to change it? Hey, don't we know what's better for them than they do? Aren't we really doing them a favour?
Barbara Bush made some comments after Katrina: the black people relocated in Northern cities were being presented with an opportunity they never would have had at home. In other words, they should be grateful for being permanently dislocated. What is wrong with this statement? What is the definition of "home"? How is it that wealthy white ladies get to determine it?
Jesus, guys! Wake up! How can you let Cary get away with his weak, passive, all-accepting, horribly destructive "advice", meant only to make the LW bury her conscience and stifle her sense of what is right? Something honorable was trying to come through here, and Cary buried it in the interests of feeling "OK about yourself".
What happens when you literally hide something unwanted, something secretly shameful, even contemptible? Isn't this what dysfunctional families do with abuse, alcoholism, and other traumatic patterns? Hide it, and it goes away. The message is clear: we're ashamed of you, so ashamed we have to literally erase your presence. What a great thing to tell your neighbors, not to mention the world.