Letters: All-white club not the same as self-segregated churches

Because South Carolinians tend to form opinions through the prism of skin color, let me begin by saying that I am white.

Sen. John Courson’s proxy defense of Gov. Henry McMaster’s decision to retain membership in the whites-only Forest Lake Country Club is meaningless since Courson too is a member. But others have offered an even more spurious justification for McMaster’s callousness by arguing that racially segregated churches are the equivalent of a Forest Lake membership.

Not only is that an inane comparison, but it also underscores the lack of remorse that far too many white South Carolinians feel in the wake of the Mother Emanuel massacre. Dylann Roof was welcomed into an African-American church; he was not barred because he is white. In return, Roof brutally assassinated those who had so cordially received him.

I doubt that a black man, woman or child showing up to eat Sunday dinner at Forest Lake would be shown the civility that Mother Emanuel’s dead showed. That is the point.