To the Editor:

We write with regard to your recent article titled "White pride youth speak" (Dec. 16, 2011). We commend you for drawing attention to the disturbing phenomenon of some youth becoming co-opted by white supremacist ideas.

We have a concern about the implications of the following description in the article, however: "White pride and white power are terms that have taken on many meanings, from white supremacy as espoused by neo-Nazis to a simple pride in identifying as white ..."

There are some in the white supremacist movement who try to mask their bigotry in public by claiming that they are merely expressing pride in their own racial identities, in an analogous manner to Latino or Asian-American groups, for instance. This assertion is disingenuous. Underlying the expression of so-called "white pride" is the belief that Caucasians are racially superior to people of color. The young people in the article attempting to draw the distinction quoted above have been unfortunately misled.

We ask that in any future reporting on this subject that you reconsider how you describe the terms "white power" and "white pride." We believe that it is misleading to your readers to legitimize this attempt to disconnect them from their underlying racist meanings.