In late April you probably saw the headlines in your major newspaper to the effect that “a black youth is six times more likely to be locked up that a white peer, even when charged with a similar crime and when neither has a record.” The only problem is it wasn't true.

The basis of the national news story was a report by a San Francisco organization called Building Blocks for Youth. What the report says is that during 1993, black juveniles in several states were six times more likely than whites to get locked up in some kind of public facility. It says nothing about what accounts for this sixfold disparity. The report does not give one any idea about the seriousness of the charges.

It is eerily reminiscent of the tactics of Soviet intelligence for distorting news articles to their particular benefit... and then seeing them repeated by news organizations which should have known better.

The mainstream media should be in the business of information, not propaganda. Why distort a news story to create divisiveness when none is warranted?

According to the crime statistics analyst who exposed the exaggeration, Jared Taylor of the New Century Foundation, “Many studies over the years have determined that when black and white criminals are carefully compared for offense and criminal record, the justice system treats them pretty much the same.”

The failure of the mainstream media to follow up on the report before printing the charges is the real problem. Why does the press jump on every story that denotes racism? And whey haven't they corrected their assumptions in this case?

Why hasn't Building Blocks for Youth come forward to correct the erroneous premise of the major daily newspapers? Shouldn't we emphasize what brings us together instead of what pulls us apart?

We can't believe anything from the Clinton-Gore administration — or our daily newspapers. Is there a connection?

William Fielder

Peachtree City

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