Readers Write: Critical race theory, policing, space, COVID response Key differences in circumstance. Text size Copy shortlink: In response to the letter "Teach agency, not victimhood":Slavs, Italians, Catholics, Jews, etc., etc., etc., did not come to this country in chains, they were not classified as 3/5ths of a person, they were not treated as animals in every sense of the word.Black folks worked hard (not as heck, but most often to death) when we were in chains, and we continue to work hard, but the oppressor continues to make it difficult to just "overcome it" until something concrete is done about systemic racism and the oppression of people of color and Black people in particular.