I graduated from Butler High in 1996, 20 years after the subjects of Matt Viser’s article (“A dream out of reach that once seemed their birthright,’’ Page A1, Sept. 4). I agree that earning potential and the accrual of dependable retirement savings have become more challenging for many, especially those in post-industrial towns.

However, were towns like Butler really places of “almost unlimited opportunities’’ 40 years ago and earlier? For whom? The opportunities Viser describes were primarily for straight white Christian men who wanted to work in manufacturing. The Butler I grew up in during the 1980s and ’90s was one in which I regularly heard openly racist, sexist, and xenophobic comments from adults and children. These comments were reflective of a homogeneous community that had long been void of diversity and economic, academic, social, or creative opportunities for women, racial and ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community, atheists, artists, and intellectuals.

The Civil Rights Act didn’t pass until 1964. Same-sex marriage was not legal for all until 2015. When conveying nostalgia for an “old-fashioned community’’ and simpler times for the parents of the 1976 graduates, it’s important to remember that the so-called American dream was not readily available to all Americans.

Meleah Himber

Longmont, Colo.