Conspiracy Theory in Black Community

In response to Column One, “Blaming a Hidden Enemy,” by David Treadwell, Sept. 17:

Gee, I wonder where those disenfranchised blacks get their paranoid notion about a conspiracy against any coalition of power in the black community?

The ruling elite of this country--wealthy white males, for the most part--represents the interests of a very narrow sector of the total population, in other words, a minority. The interests of the so-called minorities, women, blacks, Latinos, are not adequately represented, even though they are the interests of a large majority.

Every power structure has its own set of rules, designed to promote its own goals. In order to share that reign with the interests of the majority, some of those rules would have to be changed. It is the resistance to changing those rules that constitutes the conspiracy by the ruling class.

We need to house, clothe and educate people, not build more jails and higher fences to protect our lives and our things. Until the empowerment of all people in our country is made a priority, the anger of the disenfranchised will always be a threat. Until the white male elite is willing to share its monopoly on power, we have no business calling ourselves a democracy.

MARGARET RIESEN

Santa Barbara