Controversy Over Duke

I must protest the preposterous piece of propaganda you printed on behalf of David Duke in the View (“David Duke: Dixie Divider” by Joanne Harrison, March 21).

You ignored the fact that the campaign manager for his (Populist Party) presidential bid was a former member of the U.S. Nazi Party. You failed to report the actual white supremacist views of Duke’s NAAWP (National Assn. for the Advancement of White People), allowing him to hide behind the flimsy claim that he is only “pro-white,” not anti-black.

And how is it that an article stating that “everyone from George Bush to the Jewish Defense Organization is up in arms about a 38-year-old yuppie” failed to ask a single opponent for their views about Duke, apart from one anonymous Republican?

If, indeed, electoral victories by open racists are becoming more likely, as the article predicts, articles like this are one reason why. Duke could hardly have gotten more of what he wants people to believe about him into your paper if he had bought a two-page ad and written the copy himself. His mission, in or out of the Klan, has always been to legitimize white supremacy. In printing this article, The Times is guilty of complicity with that racist goal.

MICHAEL NADEL

Burbank