Rose Attacks His Attackers

* Once again, the Los Angeles Times has demonstrated its “left-liberal” bias by attacking me for daring to point out the incompetence of the O.J. Simpson jury, as demonstrated by their disgraceful verdicts (“O.C. Councilman Is Called Racist for Simpson Remarks,” Oct. 21).

Nowhere in my letter, which The Times exercised its prerogative by not printing, did I use any racial epithets of any kind. In fact, not even the words black or African American or any other racial descriptions appeared in the letter.

The only references to race at all were that the jury was “racially stacked” (there were, in fact, nine black Americans on the jury); and that Johnnie Cochran “used the race card to inflame and prejudice the jury.” (Even co-defense attorney Robert Shapiro admitted after the trial that the defense “not only used the race card, but dealt it from the bottom of the deck.”)

As a member of a religious minority (Jewish), I am constantly forced to contend with anti-Semitism and bigotry. I abhor and condemn racism in any form or fashion. I vigorously oppose the actions and remarks of Detective Mark Fuhrman; I publicly and vociferously criticized the initial Rodney King jury for acquitting Sgt. Stacey Koon and Officer Laurence Powell for their abuse of authority in beating Mr. King. For The Times to imply that my letter is somehow “racist” is a malicious and blatant lie.

EDDIE ROSE

Laguna Niguel

* I am very disgusted with the inflammatory letter by Laguna Niguel Councilman Eddie Rose about the verdicts in the O.J. Simpson case. He charges that the jury was greatly influenced by the “jive-talking rhetoric” of defense attorney Johnnie Cochran and ignored the “overwhelming evidence in the case in order to let a ‘brother’ go free.” There is little basis for this harsh accusation. A few jurors, one of them a white woman, have stated that the prosecution’s presentation was riddled with serious deficiencies and failed to provide enough credible evidence with which to convict Simpson.

More repulsive is Rose’s criticism of the followers of the “elitist media” for worshiping “semi-literate athletes” who, without their physical skills, “would probably be out pimping or dealing drugs on some street corner.” Many black athletes in professional sports have graduated from the finest universities in the nation. They devote a great deal of their spare time to helping youth groups and serve as a model of integrity and responsibility for young people in the inner city.

Rose’s letter is an inexcusable insult to the African American community. He owes a public apology to them and all other residents of Orange County for his biased and ugly remarks.

MARTIN SCHIESAL

Mission Viejo