The Wrong Answer

I cringed when I heard that “Touched by an Angel” would deal with the Sudanese slave trade in its season premiere on Sunday. I was sure the writers would get it all wrong, and they did.

All decent people are sickened to know that slavery still exists. But the solution endorsed by “Touched by an Angel”--schoolchildren collecting money to buy back slaves--is a simplistic sham. Not only are innocent American and European children perpetuating the evil they want to stop, but the organizations redeeming slaves cannot even guarantee that these people will remain free. Some organizations are effectively fighting slavery in the Sudan by rescuing and freeing slaves without paying their captors. There are other solutions that don’t involve participating in the slave trade.

I urge people to read Richard Miniter’s eye-opening article in the July issue of the Atlantic Monthly, “The False Promise of Slave Redemption.” Whatever you do, don’t let a fictional television show be your source of information about world problems, no matter how noble its tear-jerking solution may seem.

KAY M. GILBERT

Santa Monica