Poor Whites

I am a middle-class black American. I read with intense interest your article on poor whites (July 11); so little is ever written about them. The poverty statistics are often quoted so as to place emphasis on the larger percentage of black who are poor, ignoring the fact that many more whites, in absolute numbers, are poor. I do not, however, appreciate the statistics being used to make any particular ethnic group look worse than any other. It is time we face up to the ethnic diversity of poverty, stop pointing fingers at which group is better or worse, and concentrate on trying to eliminate all poverty in America. Period.

NATALIE E. BURKE

Compton