I n a recent letter, “Resident sees racism in candidate’s remarks” (Feb. 2), Avery Grant accused Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich of “rednecked racism” for comments made by Gingrich proposing “urban poor kids be hired as janitor aides in schools.”

What Gingrich actually said, as quoted by The New York Times, is: “You say to somebody, you shouldn’t go to work before you’re what, 14, 16 years of age, fine,” Gingrich said. “You’re totally poor. You’re in a school that is failing with a teacher that is failing. I’ve tried for years to have a very simple model. Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they would have pride in the schools, they’d begin the process of rising.” Note nowhere in that statement does Gingrich mention urban kids. He said poor kids. In case Mr. Grant hasn’t noticed, there are poor rural children. Mr. Grant then throws out the race card and mentions that “conservative” is the “code word” for “selective.” As Jesse Jackson has mentioned countless times, there are more “poor white people than black in the United States.” So how does that square with the writer’s racism charge?

In his professional capacity, Mr. Grant states he has hired many high school students to work after school and in the summer. That is great, but isn’t that the type of jobs program that Gingrich was talking about?

Furthermore, Mr. Grant praises the 2011 Summer Youth Employment Plan in New York City but fails tomentionwhat the youths did in that program. On the NYC Department of Youth & Community Center website it states: “Participants work in a variety of entrylevel jobs at government agencies, hospitals, summer camps, nonprofits, small businesses, law firms, museums, sports enterprises, and retail organizations.” I have a sneaking suspicion that some of these “entry-level jobs” may entail some maintenance work. Once again, does this not sound like the type of program that candidate Gingrich was advocating?

And for the record, I am not a Gingrich supporter, my grandfather was a janitor, and my choice for president would be Dr. Thomas Sowell.

David Corsi
Oceanport