Anna Marie Shomento, Minot

I was appalled as I read former Lt. Gov. Lloyd Omdahl’s op-ed titled “Only riots and burning result in action” in The Minot Daily News last Saturday. He advocated that black people must riot and burn as well as demonstrate in order ro bring about reform.

He quoted his mentor, Reinhold Niebuhr, who says that “good will doesn’t go anyplace, that the oppressed must apply force to get action. And that’s exactly what demonstrations, riots and burning are: raw force, the only weapon minorities have to shift power and resources.”

Does Mr. Omdahl not remember Martin Luther King, Jr., and his peaceful marches which brought about the Civil Rights Act enacted by Congress in 1964?

I hope and pray that Mr. Omdahl did nt teach our vulnerable young UND students his violent philosophy when he was a political science professor at that institutions.

It’s doubtful to me that most North Dakotans will agree with his radical solution to a difficult problem. Most of us do not believe that innocent people deserve to have their businesses, homes and livelihoods destroyed through no fault of their own.