Ralph Bunche

Your hopeful and upbeat story about former gang member Anthony Perry (June 17), who is using a 1949 U.N. Middle East peace treaty as his model for writing a treaty between rival L.A. gangs, missed an important angle, and perhaps a remarkable coincidence.

That historic peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, which Perry “stumbled across” at a USC archive, was negotiated and drafted by a young diplomat who himself came from Watts, an African-American who would become one of the world’s most eminent citizens.

He was Ralph Bunche, who grew up in Los Angeles, was a basketball and track star at UCLA (class of 1927), and who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless work in bringing about the 1949 armistice. However short-lived, it was an accomplishment that so far has not been repeated. Bunche went on to become undersecretary general of the United Nations, and for many years was this country’s highest-ranking official at the world body. He died in 1971.

ALAN F. CHARLES

Vice Chancellor

University Relations

UCLA