‘Economic Gap Bodes Ill for U.S.’

Poverty comes in all colors! But the perception is that it is a condition only of black America, and your marvelous series on poverty supports that perception.

Yes, blacks are disproportionately represented among the poor, and among welfare recipients, and among drug users. But that doesn’t mean that they are the majority in those situations. On the contrary, it is whites who are the largest number of poor, homeless, and welfare recipients.

Why does this perception exist? Because you, along with McNeil Lehrer, and other “responsible” segments of the media turn white America off with photos of blacks almost exclusively. Conditions in America will not change unless and until white America perceives itself threatened. Until white America understands the enormity of the problem as it relates to the nation as a whole. Until white America understands the sheer waste of resources, of markets, of potentially productive labor, of extraordinary criminal justice costs, of health problems, and of their own physical security that continued neglect of the causes of poverty create.

Make us understand, with pictures as well as words, that it is our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, and even ourselves who are as poor and neglected as those less-well represented in this otherwise blessed land.

ART MILLER

San Diego