Letters to the Editor
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Has he reformed his ideas or just his vocabulary?
I accept that people can change. A lot of people change deeply held views during and after college. However, given Allen's recent behaviour, I have a hard time believing that he has changed his views about minorities. I suspect that what he has learned is that openly racist people don't get elected to high office, so he had better be quiet about his true beliefs. Racially tolerant people don't behave the way he has behaved.
Does it matter? Yes. The republican party has been playing both sides of the fence when it comes to racial issues. They work very hard to convince minorities that they support them, but at the same time make it quite clear to their many racist white supporters that their support for minorities ends on election day. Anybody who cares about civil rights should be infuriated about the behaviour of the republican party that Allen exemplifies.