Regarding Lynn Schmidt's column " The tornado devastated Black neighborhoods. Where was the BLM organization? " (Aug. 17): I can't tell if she is really that obtuse or is just playing some ridiculous game of "gotcha."

Black Lives Matter was founded as an organization to respond to the unwarranted shooting of young Black men by the police. Nowhere in their mandate is disaster relief and recovery an essential founding principle. You might as well ask why the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals didn't show up to rebuild destroyed homes. It's just not what they do.

Just because the political right has made BLM their scapegoat for all that is bad in America doesn't make Schmidt's argument valid. This piece should never have made it out of the Editorial Board's initial

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