STEREOTYPE RETURNS

Growing up, I remember the innuendoes: "He's in the drug business."
That was the explanation when a Mexican American's business was successful.

In college, my marketing professor said we were not prominent in
corporate America because we had an "anti-business attitude and lacked
motivation."

Today, there's a candidate for governor who has shown the right
attitude and motivation and has an impeccable reputation. Despite
this, Gov. Rick Perry has resorted to that convenient ugly stereotype:
"He's rich, he's Mexican, he's got ties to drug trafficking."

Ask the experts on money laundering, and they'll tell you that every
major bank unknowingly has some drug-related money. In 1989, the
government froze $400 million in drug-related deposits in the nation's
most reputable banks, including Republic of New York, Citibank and
American Express. Are their officers involved with drug dealers, too?

To resort to such ugly stereotypes says a lot about the governor's
perception, or lack of it.

Richard Saavedra,

Kingsville