Whitewashed ‘Unity’

Christopher Knight’s rubber-stamp approval of Komar and Melamid’s angels (“Leave Them to Heaven,” March 7), which derive from Italianate cliches, is poor justification for the faux pas of having three white angels purportedly represent “Unity” in Los Angeles (March 7).

For Knight to say the accessories to the white angels--abstract, geometric patterns of a Buddhist banner, a halo burst borrowed from pre-Columbian images of an Aztec deity, and a headpiece derived from Nigerian masks--”are emblematic of a variety of cultures from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas that make up the democratic mix of latter-day Los Angeles” is like saying that because the all-white jury in the Rodney King beating trial wore black, brown, red and yellow shirts, they were representative of the multiethnic mix in Los Angeles.

Knight’s assessment proves, once more, that white men can jump to arrogant conclusions.

LILI LAKICH

Los Angeles