White People

IN A LETTER to the editor (Dec.27), reader Abe Krieger basically says that all black people will side with the black athlete and all white people will side with the white coaches. Mr. Krieger, do you really believe that just because I am white I'll side with another white in dispute against a black? I'll thank you to not speak for this white person in your future letters. Dave Scopinich Prospect Park Abe Kreiger once again is dropping his pearls of racist wisdom wherever there is slightest ounce of sympathy shown toward a person of color.

I can still hear the music and picture the long, rectangular living room of the West Harlem apartment. I'm one of a small group of teen-age girls and boys gathered for a house party to the beats of the Treacherous Three and a new sound called hip-hop. This kind of scene would be repeated over and over during my adolescence and early adulthood at house parties, fraternity parties, nightclubs and after-hours joints. I was lucky enough to grow up in New York City, club capital of the world, and some of my fondest memories are of legendary clubs that no longer exist - Paradise Garage, Broadway International, Latin Quarter and the Red Parrot.

Why is it that when I pass by 15th and Market streets on Fridays there are men speaking and teaching hate, especially toward white people? I tried listening to them so I can get a clear understanding as to what they are trying to preach (and I say that mildly), but all I hear is hate toward white people. I even tried to ask them a question as to their objective but I got ignored, I guess I am the wrong color because they would not even look my direction. And why is Civil Affairs not present during their speeches?

ONE TIME I was attacked by a gang of white guys who beat me because I was black. Should I hold all white people accountable for that? White pundits on TV are quick to state that they can't be held accountable for the bad behavior of other whites. Does this only apply to white people? How about Muslims? Blacks? Are some of those very same white people out protesting the mosque? James Morton It's troubling that the same folks who label welcoming, secular Western societies with Muslim populations as "Islamophobic" never seem able to acknowledge the social, political and economic flaws evident in the Islamic world.

I WAS SO angered reading Anthony Matthews' response to Jane Gilvary's "Cracker History 101" article. Mr. Matthews, it's people like you who keep the racist ball rolling. Ms. Gilvary was trying to make a point that not all white people are bad and that not all white people are responsible for slavery. Why can't you accept the fact that there were white people who tried to help black people? The point is, slavery happened. It was unfortunate, but what's done is done. Hitler killed millions of Jews.

The South Street flash mob March 20 resulted in injuries to a 13-year-old boy and a police officer, according to a review of police reports that were filed after the unruly crowd briefly took over the streets. The new information brings to four the number of injured people who filed reports. It's likely, officials acknowledged, that others were hurt but did not file reports. Two other victims were Chalfont waitress Anna Taylor and her boyfriend, John Kemp, both punched in the head.

Carol Dahlgren's Guest Opinion (Oct. 10), "Whites need to get real on racism," should read "Carol Dahlgren, wake up and get a real viewpoint!" I am so tired of minorities complaining about how racist white people are. Look around, racism is alive and well in all cultures, not just in the white community. Lately, everything seems to be a black issue (will O.J. get a fair trial because he's black?) or a white issue (was the Fishtown incident whites vs. blacks?). Carol Dahlgren ignites the fire of racism by singling out one group.

After the recent attack on Joan Smith and her family, I hope the white people of Philadelphia have finally come to the consensus that racism is alive and well in the City of Brotherly Love. Most white people are in denial when it comes to racial prejudice, primarily because they do not want to face the beast that lurks within. They say, "Things are better now" and "Every time something happens where a black person is involved, black people always holler 'racism.' " White people who do not consider themselves racists need to do more to educate their brothers, instead of telling black people our lot will be better if we get educated and speak "properly" and act in a certain way. I do all of those things, and my family and I are still subjected to racism.

History colored by whites"achievements' Kevin Harris (letter Sept. 16) says African-Americans "don't want white people to...celebrate and be proud of who they are. " As a person of mixed ancestry, I wonder just what it is that white people have to be so "proud" of. Perhaps it is being the only race that has killed off the planet, destroyed the ozone layer, polluted outer space, invented genocide and practiced mass subjugation. Perhaps it's having "heroes," like Columbus, who killed off the indigenous population of Jamaica, or Thomas Jefferson, who wouldn't release his own sons from slavery, while dying in their mother's arms.

RAYMOND McQuilkin (April 24) writes: "We white people" and "most of us. " Who are you referring to? I'm Caucasian, and I've NEVER felt the way of your most disturbing diatribe! "Poor black man card"? I've known many a black person and don't recall ANY (no, not one) who would ascribe to your description. You should work for the CIA. Casting aspersions is your natural talent. Mark Anthony Vare, Philadelphia

Why is it that when I pass by 15th and Market streets on Fridays there are men speaking and teaching hate, especially toward white people? I tried listening to them so I can get a clear understanding as to what they are trying to preach (and I say that mildly), but all I hear is hate toward white people. I even tried to ask them a question as to their objective but I got ignored, I guess I am the wrong color because they would not even look my direction. And why is Civil Affairs not present during their speeches?

WHEN I am king of the world, I will place a cop at every major intersection in the city to enforce the "Blocking the Box" law, which thousands of imbeciles break every single day. Can't you people be considerate of pedestrians who are almost hit by you because you get stuck in the intersection because you are too impatient to wait for the flow of traffic to cross over the intersection before you decide to go? Or to the cars who get stuck at the red light because they can't go forward because you are blocking the intersection?

TRAYVON MARTIN was an innocent black youth, minding his own business and returning from the store to the house where his parents lived. Trayvon only looked suspicious because he was in a community where he is not supposed to live. The only crime he committed was walking while being black. Please give us a break with the self-defense when the people in their homes heard Trayvon screaming for help. George Zimmerman is a murderer and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Trayvon was a young man who could have been the next person to have a patent or become a doctor, lawyer or even the next mayor, but now his parents have buried their child.

THESE WOMEN are having "Slut Walks" because one guy made a statement? Amazing. Of course, women don't have to be dressed as sluts to be raped nowadays. These pigs would rape old ladies. Any normal man who looks at an attractive woman dressed that way would give a glance, and that would be that. I'm not a perv, but if you're attractive, I would sure give you a nice stare, then on my way I go. Get off it, ladies! George J. Walton Upper Darby The racial lens I wonder what would happen if groups of white kids were going around attacking black people?

OP-ED writer Lydia Hilliard's designation of those who philosophically disagree with President Obama as being racist is of itself racial prejudice. I didn't vote for Obama. But I also wouldn't vote for Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid, both of whom appear to be some shade of white. I wouldn't vote for Joe Biden. None of them, for any office, ever. But I might vote for Condoleezza Rice or Colin Powell, both of whom appear to be some shade of black. Political focus has nothing to do with race.

It is easy to see the similarities between the 19th century's Know Nothings and today's tea party ("With the tea party, history repeats itself," Sunday). Ironically, a great number of tea partyers are white Irish Americans, comfortable in their own xenophobia and ignorant of its effect on their ancestors. Even more poignant was Harold Jackson's observation that racism is "never just about skin color. " Often, white people who make off-color jokes or ethnic or racial slurs have coworkers or friends who are people of color.

ONE TIME I was attacked by a gang of white guys who beat me because I was black. Should I hold all white people accountable for that? White pundits on TV are quick to state that they can't be held accountable for the bad behavior of other whites. Does this only apply to white people? How about Muslims? Blacks? Are some of those very same white people out protesting the mosque? James Morton It's troubling that the same folks who label welcoming, secular Western societies with Muslim populations as "Islamophobic" never seem able to acknowledge the social, political and economic flaws evident in the Islamic world.

I WAS SO angered reading Anthony Matthews' response to Jane Gilvary's "Cracker History 101" article. Mr. Matthews, it's people like you who keep the racist ball rolling. Ms. Gilvary was trying to make a point that not all white people are bad and that not all white people are responsible for slavery. Why can't you accept the fact that there were white people who tried to help black people? The point is, slavery happened. It was unfortunate, but what's done is done. Hitler killed millions of Jews.

RE JANE Gilvary's enlightening and gregarious piece of literature ( op-ed, "Cracker History 101," July 26 ): Are you out of your cotton-picking mind? How could you use eight names to minimize what more than 100 million white Christians did to the colored man throughout history? ("Colored man" includes Indians, Vietnamese, Jews and others.) How could you stand there and list just eight men who helped give colored men their civil rights, rights that were theirs from the beginning - but not acknowledged by more than 100 million white people?

By Nell Irvin Painter W.W. Norton, 496 pp., $27.95. Reviewed by Alan Nadel   'Ocular proof' - Othello demanded but never received it from Iago, accepting instead the circumstantial evidence of a purloined handkerchief. Ironically, part of the play's tragedy is that Iago felt that he, not Othello, had incriminating visual evidence: the color of Othello's skin. In The History of White People , Nell Irvin Painter stunningly chronicles the logic of ocular proof that has rendered complexion a form of evidence inextricably linked to historically convenient notions of race.