Leonard Pitts inaccurate

Leonard Pitts’ article about reaching out to black voters (“How to talk to black people,” Sept. 7) gave an incorrect interpretation of Paul Rand’s speech at Howard University.

I am an independent voter, but when Paul Rand said that he was “brave or crazy to be here” it was not because of a fear for personal safety but because he was addressing a group that was against his political views.

Because Pitts apparently wanted to find fault with the politician's way of reaching out to Afro-American voters, an accurate example from that speech would have been that Rand said that the Republican party has always been for voters’ rights.

He then could have used the recent court cases to refute Rand’s claim.

This is like a much milder version of Trump’s claim that Mexico is exporting murderers, rapists, etc.

Inaccurate statements from both sides helps to make it more difficult to have a constructive conversation on the subject.

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Leonard Pitts inaccurate."