Watts, 25 Years Post-Rebellion

In their articles on Watts (Opinion, Aug. 5) Conot and Robert M. Taylor Jr. see Watts after 25 years as essentially the same: A place where nothing much has changed, a place where fear and despair are still found.

Watts is a symbol of all those areas in large cities where the poor grind out their desolate lives in poverty. The child who is born poor has the odds stacked against him.

The greatest threat to this country is not Marxism or Cuba or Iran. It is the desolation of the poor. We must start with the poor and pregnant woman. We must give her all the care she needs so that she can give birth to a normal, healthy child. Then we must enroll that child in pre-Head Start and Head Start programs, and when he finishes there, send him on to non-segregated, quality schools. Encourage him to go as far as he can in his schooling. Then he can enter that competitive world confident that he can break the cycle of poverty. Then Watts will carry a different symbol, a symbol of hope.

DON RADEMACHER

Los Angeles