Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________BLACK BUT NOT LIKE ME BY JILL NELSON (02/04/99)

When I first saw Lawrence Otis Graham's book, "Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class," in my local bookstore, I was glad that someone finally wrote about a group so hidden from most of America and absolutely absent in the media -- old money blacks. My own background is closer to Cosby's Huxtables (four generations of African-American medical doctors, all educated at Howard or the Ivy League), and I have long hoped that the rest of America knew that "our kind of people" did exist.
However, from glancing at the book in my local bookstore, reading the two Salon articles and remarks from readers on Amazon.com, I was left with a distasteful feeling about the book. Graham strikes me as the type of person who, in high school, was so desperate to be part of the "in" crowd that he aped the material possessions of them, but, being a pretender, could not copy their true essence. Graham's obsession with pale skin and "good" hair seems to come from his own insecurities rather than real experience with the black upper classes. And his obsession with material items strikes me more as black Robin Leech than old money. I would suggest reading Dorothy West's fiction for a better idea of the mentality of the black upper classes.
-- Adrienne Metoyer Eng

_______________THE LIMITS OF FREE SPEECH BY SALLIE TISDALE (02/03/99)

I compliment Sallie Tisdale's recent column on the issues of free speech surrounding the anti-abortion Web site trial in Oregon. It's refreshing to find someone who clearly believes in something -- in Tisdale's case, choice -- yet who also weighs the other side of the issue. Her ambivalence about whether the jury's finding that Internet "Wanted" posters are a death threat rather than incendiary political speech protected by the First Amendment is the kind of ambivalence that sustains a democracy like ours rather than paralyzes it. It seems that the abortion issue is controlled by zealots on both sides of the argument and it might be worth considering that the best response to hateful, blood-thirsty, but ultimately political rhetoric is a measured, thoughtful statement like Tisdale's.
-- Erich Huang
Durham, N.C.
Sallie Tisdale's article really cuts to the root of my concerns over this decision. There is no doubt that the Nuremburg Files are the work of a sick mind, but I worry that the court's decision sets an awful precedent. I'm not sure that prohibiting their propaganda is even going to work.
As someone who often publicly laments John Hinckley's lack of aim, it would be hypocritical of me to condemn the expression of these anti-choice zealots' viewpoints. I am obligated to defend their right to free speech. That being said, I have no problem attacking their viewpoints themselves. There is a stone carving on one of the buildings at my alma mater that reads "We Shall Permit No Error So Long as Reason Is Left to Combat It." To deny the freedom of expression in any case sabotages the application of reason in all cases.
I believe it was an author in this publication who said that the good news is that the abortion movement has ceased to be politically viable, but that was also the bad news. Removed from the political arena, the anti-choice moralists are left with few ways to enforce their doctrines, violence being one method. It seems to me that the best way to combat the violence is to make it, too, seem like an option that is not viable. Which is why I believe that anyone who cares about the well-being of abortion providers, anyone who cares about reproductive freedoms, anyone who cares about basic individual freedoms -- like free speech, should contact Otis Horsley and ask to be put on his damned list. Only with a show of numbers can those who would kill be cowed. The only way to end violence is to empirically prove that it could never succeed.
-- Jason Basinger Linkins
N E X T+P A G E+| Salon's Money columnist "did little research and no thinking ..."

_______________BLACK BUT NOT LIKE ME BY JILL NELSON (02/04/99)
	When I first saw Lawrence Otis Graham's book, "Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class," in my local bookstore, I was glad that someone finally wrote about a group so hidden from most of America and absolutely absent in the media -- old money blacks. My own background is closer to Cosby's Huxtables (four generations of African-American medical doctors, all educated at Howard or the Ivy League), and I have long hoped that the rest of America knew that "our kind of people" did exist. However, from glancing at the book in my local bookstore, reading the two Salon articles and remarks from readers on Amazon.com, I was left with a distasteful feeling about the book. Graham strikes me as the type of person who, in high school, was so desperate to be part of the "in" crowd that he aped the material possessions of them, but, being a pretender, could not copy their true essence. Graham's obsession with pale skin and "good" hair seems to come from his own insecurities rather than real experience with the black upper classes. And his obsession with material items strikes me more as black Robin Leech than old money. I would suggest reading Dorothy West's fiction for a better idea of the mentality of the black upper classes. -- Adrienne Metoyer Eng
_______________THE LIMITS OF FREE SPEECH BY SALLIE TISDALE (02/03/99)
	I compliment Sallie Tisdale's recent column on the issues of free speech surrounding the anti-abortion Web site trial in Oregon. It's refreshing to find someone who clearly believes in something -- in Tisdale's case, choice -- yet who also weighs the other side of the issue. Her ambivalence about whether the jury's finding that Internet "Wanted" posters are a death threat rather than incendiary political speech protected by the First Amendment is the kind of ambivalence that sustains a democracy like ours rather than paralyzes it. It seems that the abortion issue is controlled by zealots on both sides of the argument and it might be worth considering that the best response to hateful, blood-thirsty, but ultimately political rhetoric is a measured, thoughtful statement like Tisdale's. -- Erich Huang Durham, N.C. Sallie Tisdale's article really cuts to the root of my concerns over this decision. There is no doubt that the Nuremburg Files are the work of a sick mind, but I worry that the court's decision sets an awful precedent. I'm not sure that prohibiting their propaganda is even going to work. As someone who often publicly laments John Hinckley's lack of aim, it would be hypocritical of me to condemn the expression of these anti-choice zealots' viewpoints. I am obligated to defend their right to free speech. That being said, I have no problem attacking their viewpoints themselves. There is a stone carving on one of the buildings at my alma mater that reads "We Shall Permit No Error So Long as Reason Is Left to Combat It." To deny the freedom of expression in any case sabotages the application of reason in all cases. I believe it was an author in this publication who said that the good news is that the abortion movement has ceased to be politically viable, but that was also the bad news. Removed from the political arena, the anti-choice moralists are left with few ways to enforce their doctrines, violence being one method. It seems to me that the best way to combat the violence is to make it, too, seem like an option that is not viable. Which is why I believe that anyone who cares about the well-being of abortion providers, anyone who cares about reproductive freedoms, anyone who cares about basic individual freedoms -- like free speech, should contact Otis Horsley and ask to be put on his damned list. Only with a show of numbers can those who would kill be cowed. The only way to end violence is to empirically prove that it could never succeed. -- Jason Basinger Linkins N E X T+P A G E+\| Salon's Money columnist "did little research and no thinking ..."