In Charles Todorich’s Feb. 8 op-ed about white guilt he claims, “[Racism] has been nearly completely excised from public conversation … [Shelby] Steele writes that today’s conservatives sound like Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963.”

Completely excised? It’s as if the president had not, just last week, disseminated racist memes about the Obamas. What might Dr. King have had to say about that? Or in response to the vice president’s vile assertion that Haitian immigrants eat pets? Mr. Steele’s book, published 20 years ago, offered conservatives intellectual cover in their aim to dismantle affirmative action. But there is no intellectual cover for our current moment.

Mr. Todorich displays a telling lack of attention to his party’s escalating racist rhetoric and policies. In 2026. You don’t need to feel guilty, Mr. Todorich, but you might resolve to be less disingenuous.

Genanne Walsh
Portland