\u201cIn Orange County, Black Catholic men have a club of their own,\u201d<\/a> Aug. 22) gave me both courage and incentive to continue the work I have pursued for more than 30 years \u2014 helping young people of color gain equal opportunities.<\/p>\nThough I appear white, my Creole and Latino heritage has long motivated me to \u201ceven the playing field\u201d for others. In January 2022, I was honored to represent my Martinet family at the pardon ceremony of Homer Plessy in New Orleans, invited by the governor of Louisiana. My great-great-uncle, Louis A. Martinet, was Plessy\u2019s lawyer and confidant. That moment reminded me how closely our family\u2019s story is tied to the ongoing fight for justice.<\/p>\n
Still, being a person of color by heritage but not by appearance can be complicated. At times I\u2019ve been rejected by those I want to help \u2014 just last week a passerby scorned me as a \u201cstupid white person.\u201d Such encounters are reminders that the wounds of racism run deep and that allyship requires humility and persistence.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why this column gave me such hope. The acceptance of members like Gregory Herr, who is white, and Gee Padilla, my Latino brother, into the Knights of Peter Claver is a powerful sign of unity and inclusion. Their example inspires me to keep working, however imperfectly, for a more just and equitable future for all.<\/p>\n
Ken Martinet, Los Angeles
This writer is president and chief executive of the Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n
..<\/p>\n
To the editor<\/b>: For weeks, I have been skimming the painful and negative stories that make up our current world. But on Aug. 22, there was a hopeful story about the Knights of Peter Claver. These men deserved to be recognized, because our world is full of corruption, violence and despair. They truly represent the agape love that Jesus preached. I pray that their message continues to grow.<\/p>\n
Joan Andersen, Apple Valley<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aug. 26, 2025 5 AM PT To the editor: This column (\u201cIn Orange County, Black Catholic men have…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":177080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,9243,21228,100437,7129,100431,15738,2961,26822,100434,224,2444,5337,100435,95704,100433,100432,645,100436],"class_list":{"0":"post-177079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-color","11":"tag-column","12":"tag-current-world","13":"tag-editor","14":"tag-homer-plessy","15":"tag-knights","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-last-week","18":"tag-latino-heritage","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-los-angeles-times","21":"tag-losangeles","22":"tag-martinet-family","23":"tag-peter-claver","24":"tag-positive-change","25":"tag-reader-hope","26":"tag-story","27":"tag-uncertain-time"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115095235856595535","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}