Anti-Semitism and perception

Re “Micheal Ray and Jews: no harm, no foul,” Opinion, April 3

Zev Chafets hit the nail on the head about Micheal Ray Richardson and his recent comments that got him suspended. Richardson has a penchant for comments that seem foul on first inspection but bear witness to reality on closer inspection. Like Richardson, I grew up in Denver and have known him since high school. We both had a number of Jewish friends.

Chafets also knows how to turn a phrase that grabs your attention. He grew up with my wife in Michigan, where he attended synagogue on Saturday and Pentecostal church on Sunday with my wife and her family. Chafets, like Richardson, is familiar with the Jewish world and the African American world. I think the message of both Chafets and Richardson is that we need to begin talking honestly about our similarities and differences so that we have a better chance of moving ahead together.

PHILIP S. HART

Los Feliz

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Chafets’ Op-Ed is as stereotyped and fallacious as Richardson’s views. When a group as a whole has achieved a higher level of accomplishment than the average, it is normally an occasion for general admiration rather than for attributing this achievement to being “shrewd and crafty.” But to admire a group implies the desirability of emulating it, and neither Richardson nor Chafets advocate that people learn more about Judaism and follow its teachings.

Chafets concludes that Jews should focus on finding real anti-Semitism and fighting it. I suggest that he start with himself.

LARRY SELK

Los Angeles