DN letters: Thanks to Armstrong for column on African American Museum

I JUST READ Jenice Armstrong's article about the new African American Museum in Washington, and I felt compelled to write and say how much her writing touched me.

I'm a 74-year-old woman who became involved with the American Friends Service Committee from an early age, when my mother sent me to an AFSC summer work camp. Later, I spent weekends in New York with black gangs and then attended Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C.

I actually sat on those stools in the Greensboro Woolworth's lunch counter.

Greensboro and surroundings at the time contained multiple small and large colleges. The best known were the University of North Carolina and Wake Forest, but there were many others, black and white. As a result, there were college students everywhere. There was a need for a place where students from all the colleges could congregate and get to know one another. One local man donated a large barn to be used as a social hall and another donated a piece of land, and we began the tedious work of moving the barn, board by board, to the property. After a month or two of this work, Guilford administrators advised us that we would not be allowed to continue with the program. They were concerned for our safety, or so they said. I was bitterly disappointed and made the decision to transfer.

I have remained consciously aware of how far we haven't come in resolving the issues that have plagued our country since slavery was introduced. Every time another young black man is killed by a white policeman, I think to myself that I am so glad my son is white - and then I feel guilty for my feeling. I ache for the mothers who send their black sons out into the world every day, not knowing whether they will return in the evening unharmed.

Armstrong's article made me want to visit the new museum as soon as possible. I thank her for her deeply felt and personal response to her visit and for sharing it.

Lynn Godmilow

Philadelphia

What is wrong with the judge who didn't put this monster away for life for abusing a 4-year-old child who is autistic?

Don't you think something is wrong with this judge, the court system and this country when this animal can soon walk free to harm more kids?

You have other people sitting in jail doing lengthy terms for running numbers or selling pot, but this monster will get to walk around. This is tragic. Insane. And unbelievable.

Janice Di Joseph

Philadelphia