A reader's response to the "Tunnel of Oppression"

The column "Tunnel of Oppression reinforces victimhood," which first ran on this blog on February 14, and was printed by the Georgia Red and Black on February 23, elicited an immediate reader response. Here is an email the author received the day the column ran (all spelling and grammar has been left unaltered):

I found your article in the Red and Black provokative. I did not agree with the argument, and wrote the red and black a rebuttal that will certainly be one of many. Nonetheless, I am not sure my response will run and wanted to send it to you because I think exchanging ideas is always a good thing. Here it is:Other people might attack the character of the author due to the nature of this article, but I will do my best to keep criticisms to what I found to be holes in the argument. First, I am unsure why quotes were used around the words minorities and oppressed. Is there disagreement that blacks are a minority or is there a dispute that these groups have been discriminated against? I would think most people would acknowledge that blacks are a minority, and slavery was oppressive. Debating how minorities should conduct themselves as a result of oppression is one thing, but you can't debate they are minorities.
Next, the general tone of the argument is bothersome. The reader gets
the impression that the conservative Christians (who the author claims to be
representing) want everyone to live and let die and not voice complaints about
society. Why can't those blacks let it go already? Slavery was abolished over a hundred years ago, how long are you going to complain about it?
This is the impression you get when reading this article. Segregation is not ancient history; it was in our parents life time that the children in Birmingham were being sprayed with fire hoses. The effects of that kind of racism will not go away in one generation. How long will it take for these wounds to heal? Well that would depend greatly upon the approaches used and their effectiveness. The tunnel idea seems like a good one, but an all-too-familiar rebuttal will certainly be used. Will racism ever be
healed if the cuts are constantly being re-opened? Will making middle class
whites feel awful about every oppression in history work? Don't try to make them
feel bad, but educate them on things tha thave gone on in the past and why these
things happened. It is never a better solution to have people less educated
about something. Next, why is this tunnel a threat to their (conservative Christian) way of life? This is a common argument that doesn't really make any sense. Learning about the plight of certaingroups is a hassle? "We the majority , under constant fire from those who want to destroy our culture and delete our right to live as we see fit just as they have the right to". So, everyone not in the majority of Christian conservatism is trying to ruin the culture of the United States? Perhaps living the way you see fit interferes with other people's lives? For example, believing the institution of marriage is sacred and should be for men and women only necessarily interferes with two gay men to get married. Lastly, the whole article contradicts itself. The article bemoans discriminated groups complaining. Next, the author notes that conservative Christians are the ones truly being discriminated
against and proceeds to complain about it.