TAPE MEASURES

I read Mary King’s review of Ralph Abernathy’s “And the Walls Came Tumbling Down.” I hope to read the book. Provided I can figure out a way to do so without buying it.

My disillusionment with Dr. Abernathy began when it became apparent that he could not carry the banner that he had grabbed from the dying hands of Martin Luther King as King fell. But then, who could?

That disillusionment was complete some months ago as I dutifully went through the several pounds of mail solicitations I receive each week. There it was, Ralph David Abernathy, among the names of board members of some organization that was raising funds for Col. Oliver North’s defense. (How did I get on that mailing list?)

I wrote Abernathy in care of the organization, whose name I did little note or long remember. I wanted to know how a man who once marched with Martin King could now fall in step with Oliver North. I never got an answer.

Direct mailing being what it is, hundreds of thousands must have received that solicitation. I have never heard anyone else ever raise the question.

Perhaps Abernathy has taken his considerable ego to other parts of the body politic in an effort to find gratification.

BOB BRIGHAM

MANHATTAN BEACH