Schneider’s List

* William Schneider writes (“The Double-Edged Mandate,” Opinion, Sept. 22), “If [Republicans] try to scare voters with pictures of black committee chairmen [should the Democrats win control of Congress], it’ll look like an appeal to racism.”

But for what purpose, other than precisely to call attention to their race, does Schneider write, “African American Democrats would control important committees,” following which he names the black chairmen-apparent should the Democrats control the House? If he weren’t intent on introducing the issue of race, why wasn’t he content to simply include them in his list of other “liberals and labor Democrats” he mentions as chairmen-in-waiting, rather than calling attention to their being black? Why did he list them separate and apart from the other white “liberals and labor Democrats” he names, if not to infuse race into the election?

RICHARD ROSENTHAL

New York City