On Sept. 10, The Gazette published an Associated Press article about whether racial bias fuels opposition to President Barack Obama, but the article overlooked a significant factor (“Does racial bias fuel Obama foes? How to tell?”).

Sources and experts were quoted as having a difficult time identifying specific racial experiences and “unconscious biases” that fuel racial stereotypes in today’s politics, while the story avoided taking a hard look at the “birther” controversy that Republican operatives promoted so vehemently during the first two years of Obama’s presidency. I ask you, is there any clearer way to downgrade Obama’s legitimacy to be president than by denying he was born in this country and is a citizen?

American politics has a long history of denying citizenship to minorities and disempowering poor people. Today, it includes laws restricting the human rights of Central American immigrants.

In this and recent election cycles, we are witnesses to Republican attempts to suppress voting opportunities among specific minority groups in several “swing” states. We are a democracy where racial bias, which all of us harbor in some way in silence, must not be allowed to become law and be promoted by big money in politics.

Dave Benn

Cedar Rapids