Nicholas Kristof showed his progressive credentials in his Monday op-ed column "Even people who support racial equality show bias." He provided the usual kinds of statistics to support his claim.

Nicholas Kristof showed his progressive credentials in his Monday op-ed column �Even people who support racial equality show bias.� He provided the usual kinds of statistics to support his claim.

Mark Twain once said that to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Progressives with a guilt complex and minorities with a persecution complex see racism as their proverbial hammer. I could claim that the National Basketball Association is anti-Caucasian. I would confidently use the same statistical analysis that progressives use.

During the 2008-09 season, almost 82 percent of NBA players were black. In the United States, 13 percent of the population is black. Is this incontrovertible proof of racism? Of course not. It�s a ridiculous oversimplification to promote a political agenda.

But it is a standard method constantly used by progres-

sives to support their simplistic claims. Even black people are afraid of groups of young black males because of what they have experienced and what they have witnessed.

Their caution is based on something older than racism. It�s called self-preservation.

STEVE LISAK

Columbus