Preface: I was extremely impressed with an excerpt from a speech by federal Judge William Wayne Justice published by your paper several years ago, so much so, that I asked Judge Justice's office whether I could paraphrase his speech to the extent of applying it to present-day civil rights workers. The judge readily agreed.

Civil rights workers are sometimes called everything from four-letter words to disruptive nuisances. "Jesse Jackson rocks the boat unnecessarily;" "They over react;" "The NAACP keeps us from getting along with the good people in the community;" "They keep Blacks from getting what they want;" "They work with loud mouths like Rev. Al Sharpton instead of working with the real leaders in their communities;" are only a few of the verbal attacks.

One of the favorite accusations of those who would criticize these dedicated workers is that these workers have never come out of the maze of the '60s; that they are still living in the '60s; that they are fighting a losing battle of the past in the present. "Why don't they just let the unwanted '60s die?" they accuse.

Also, without respect for the sincerity of these dedicated workers, these same critics accuse these workers of being unconverted. Almost in the same breath they put this group in with what they call confused persons, all of whom have missed the boat in being educated like everybody else following the dark ages of the Vietnam Era — ignorant present-day Neanderthal men.

There would be no problems, no homelessness, no hunger, no underclass, no poverty, no race problems, no prejudices, no poor — if only these people would stop bringing them up. These problems just do not exist in our community. The '60s solved these problems. They speak with such assuredness that they almost convince everyone that they themselves played significant roles in bringing this about.

Civil rights workers are the ones who perpetuate these prejudices, race problems, poverty, etc. These problems are figments of their imagination. These people are being treated much better than they were treated in the sixties and their homes and cars are much better than mine.

Certainly, if you didn't bring them up all the time, they would be easier to ignore; because it would be extremely more comfortable to the unconcerned conservative to always set apart the poor out of his mind as he so often has done by grouping the poor together thereby distracting from individual achievements, accomplishments and advancements. But even so, even if the poor, the people that civil rights workers are fighting so hard to support, even if they are before the public as obvious as the nose on your face, they would still be ignored. Perhaps easier ignored, for the best way to devalue the lives of large groups of people is to pretend they're not there.

It is very important to set the poor apart from the mass, even though it is only psychological. Because, only lives that are experienced are real. To us, the only ones we really care about are the ones we see and know. I care about my immediate family because I know them; I care about my own race because I know their minds, their wills, their desires, their ambitions. We do not trust the poor because we attempt to withdraw (at least in our minds) from them.

We systematically assert that the sufferings of the poor are somehow predestined — "Their people were no good, anyway;" "I knew his no-good daddy." There are still people living in the past who think that if we are good Christians, this will automatically lead to prosperity; and if we have babies out of wedlock this will lead to unproductiveness. Little concern is given to the fact that there are non-prosperous Christians. Little concern is given to the fact that there are prosperous families who are having babies out of wedlock. Little concern is given to the fact that there are J.R. Ewings who are stabbing friends in the back (Rich people!)

In the truth-telling role of the civil rights worker they are like burrs under a saddle, who, by the pain they inflict, keep the horse frenziedly moving, thereby helping to save its drunken rider from that final, icy sleep.

Dallas Pierre is contributing writer and a local dentist.