Wednesday, May 28, 2003

In his column which appeared in your May 21 Opinion section, John Leo, in his misguided attempt at chastising the New York Times for the Jayson Blair episode, paints all black and Hispanic journalists with one brush stroke. He writes as if all of them have done or will do as Blair did and, because of company quota systems, were hired even though they are under-qualified, unprepared and hired under double standards. Such statements represent the epitome of bigotry and bias and are flat out untrue.

Obviously, following Mr. Leo's thesis, all white hires are overqualified, well prepared and are hired on merit only, not because Daddy or a family friend owns the newspaper.

He takes his shots at affirmative action, too. He should read the history of black folks to know that during a century or more of slavery and bondage, blacks were not allowed to be educated, even being beaten if caught learning to read and write. Yet, in spite of all this, we have persevered.

So, if occasionally, a black or Hispanic falls on his face, so be it. What about all the white journalists who have probably been as guilty as Blair but the public was never made aware of it? Is this a double standard?

When will blacks and other minorities be given the "opportunity to fail" the same as whites are? Let's level the playing field before we use the paint brush as Mr. Leo did!

Daniel Lowry

North Fayette