Racism, Ethics and the Public Trust Are Among Items Still Being Debated

Editor’s note: Last week it was announced that Peter Bart would return as editor of Variety after a 21-day suspension and undergoing diversity training.

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If, as Bob Shayne asserts, the sum total of Peter Bart’s personal attributes and his consequent behavior and attitudes make Bart “the conscience of Hollywood” (“Defending ‘Conscience of Hollywood,”’ Aug. 27), then it certainly explains why the entertainment industry lags behind most other American big business in rooting out racism and the ignorance that perpetuates it. If Bart had been an executive in any other industry (or an editor at a non-entertainment-related publication, for that matter), his suspension would not have been questioned.

It’s ludicrous that Shayne praises Bart’s tactics and renders him blameless in his abuse of a position of public trust for personal gain. It is not OK for Bart to use his position to realize his screenwriting aspirations. It is greedy, presumptuous and, most significantly, against company policy. That Bart certainly knew this and did it anyway sounds like grounds for suspension to me.

Bart may not be a product of the era of “superficial political correctness.” His actions suggest that neither is he a product of the era of ethical behavior, sensitivity, respect and humility. I wonder how Shayne, in good conscience, can defend that.

SHARON D. JOHNSON

Burbank

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Why is it that whenever an institution makes a move forward, takes a stand on an issue of integrity, and basically communicates that “business as usual” will no longer be tolerated, in chimes the voice of “the way things were,” bemoaning the loss of privilege?

How dare Variety suspend its longtime editor Peter Bart for his blatantly racist statements, insider favoritism and conflict-of-interest screenplay angling! Don’t they know that bending the rules to serve the needs of the individual is a privilege of power in America?

Self-described award-winning television writer (now, there’s an oxymoron) Bob Shayne defends the out-of-touch Bart by saying that “the man is 69 years old.” And that Bart was brought up in a time before “superficial political correctness was instilled in him.”

Mr. Shayne, if you think being 69 years old is a plastic bubble of ignorance that bears no responsibility for itself, no wonder you find yourself the victim of age discrimination. My mother is 74 years old and she too was born before the age of political correctness. However, what she has in its place is a functioning brain that didn’t get stuck in 1954, eyes that actually see and a soul that is sensitive to the human condition. Age is no excuse for arrogance, ignorance and thoughtlessness, and only a fool would label sensitivity to the feelings of “others” (translated: nonwhites) as superficial political correctness while holding up good old-fashioned bigotry as free-thinking rebellion.

We all have the right to be as narrow-minded as we wish. But perhaps the time is past where we are comfortable with such casual racism displayed by people in positions of power.

Whether genuine or politically based, I admire Variety’s decision to suspend Bart. Ignorance like his need not be tolerated in this day and age, and it won’t ever stop until someone, somewhere, sometime, says enough!

KEN ANDERSON

Los Angeles

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Bob Shayne’s “psycho babble” on how blacks should view themselves sets us back 50 years. As Shayne and Peter Bart were both born with the “skin of privilege,” their finger-shaking lectures on blacks identifying themselves more closely with whites is insulting, at best. Furthermore, Shayne’s assertion that we ignore Bart’s racist ramblings because he is aged is ludicrous! He held a powerful position in one of the world’s most powerful mediums.

What can Shayne and Bart tell me about being black? Having lived for 45 years wrapped in beautiful, dark brown skin, I truly do not need a wannabe historian preaching to me about America’s racial divide.

Descendents of the African diaspora share a deep and vital richness that Shayne can only dream about.

I pray that Shayne is wrong and that Bart is not the “conscience of Hollywood.” If this is true, heaven help us all!

M.A. De VEAUX

Los Angeles