The wrong slant

I object to the slant you have chosen to give to your coverage of the verdict in the case of the Los Angeles Police Department officers who beat Rodney King. You have chosen to make the rioting bigger news than the miscarriage of justice which provoked it. And the rioting itself is presented without an effort to understand the conditions in which it is occurring.

The picture on the front page of looters smiling was particularly objectionable, as it sensationalizes, plays to racial stereotypes, and ignores the deeper frustration and indignation relating to the verdict itself. Why not focus instead on the patterns of police violence, directed randomly against the black community, of which the beating of King was only an unusually well-documented example?

Why not call attention to the intensifying violence in America’s cities, in which for black men the highest cause of death is homicide? Why not feature the economic violence of inadequate housing, cuts in education and other services, and massive unemployment in the inner cities, while over the last decade military spending has gone up enormously? Why not at least raise a question about whether the president is not showing excessive use of force in deploying the Army to subdue domestic unrest? Why not highlight the growing disparity between the richest 10 percent and the rest of the population, and the worsening condition of those below the poverty line?

Your coverage of events can help to enlighten the public at a moment of heightened attention and heal the wounds, or you can seize upon sensational sidelines, and reinforce the status quo by minimizing the significance of the jury’s verdict and its aftermath. Michael Howard Bangor