Sunday letters: Why report jurors’ skin color?

In the June 16 newspaper, Harrison Cahill wrote about the 2013 shooting death of a 33-year-old woman at a bakery in Columbia, and John Monk wrote about the former police chief of Eutawville on trial for the 2011 shooting of an unarmed man.

Mr. Cahill said there were seven blacks and five whites on the jury; Mr. Monk wrote that the jury had 10 whites and two blacks.

My question is, why? Why do the writers have to break down the color of the juries’ skin?

Tension between the races is real. I am probably older then most everybody in the newspaper business, and I can’t remember when race was ever a concern.

In a trial, aren’t you supposed to be judged by your equals?