No Love at All for Scott Pellegrino; Badillo at CUNY? What Badillo at CUNY?; Happy New MUGGER Readers; Cockburn's Got the Cactus Juice; Top/Terrible "Drawer"; More

In Scott Pellegrino's article "The Little Station that Couldn't" ("New York City," 8/15) he maligns a person I know personally as an open-minded and fine woman. The fact that Beth Gilinsky and the Jewish Action Alliance are determined to protect Jewish interests is not a secret. Why would you agree to publish an article that refers to Beth as a "viciously racist wildebeest" and the J.A.A. as the "Jewish Asshole Alliance"?

Elliot Friedman, Brooklyn

WRIP

Re Scott Pellegrino's article about WEVD. The station did have an African-American talk show host with a liberal bent, back in 1978 for about a year. His name was Leon Lewis and he did an overnight telephone call-in show, coming over from WMCA at that time.

For the information of his many fans, Leon passed away in October of 1996.

Maida Feingold, Manhattan

Left Behind

Since I am one of the people lambasted by Scott Pellegrino in his article on WEVD, I thought your readers might like to read a few points in response to his article.

To begin with, Scott was fired from WEVD for not showing up to work. I never demanded that he not bring me negative articles about Gore, I asked him to stop bringing me only negative articles about Gore. Scott was a Nader supporter, and, despite his statements to the contrary, tried to sway my opinion about Nader. Everyone in New York radio, except for the folks at WBAI, were harshly treated in this article. Is it necessary to call someone a "shitbag" because you disagree with his religious activities?

I never accused Nader of anti-Semitism, though I did accuse him of being anti-Israeli. By the way, Scott was on the verge of being fired when I asked that he be given a second chance. Scott wanted me to interview Brit Hume and ask him about his son's suicide and rumors that he was gay. When I told him I thought that was cruel, Scott said, "Too fucking bad, let the fascist spin on his head." Scott has a videotape of crank calls he has made to tv talk shows, a tape he is so proud of he played it on a website. Scott has not worked at WEVD for a year and has yet to find employment anywhere else in New York radio. I may be mistaken, but I believe his tenure at WEVD was the only job he has ever held.

When I asked Scott to try to book Hillary Clinton as a guest, he said, "I can get you Winona LaDuke" (Nader's running mate). Big name in politics, that LaDuke. Since his dismissal, Scott has made a habit of crank calling talk shows at WEVD. I am really sorry that I am not left-wing enough for Scott, but Karl Marx doesn't do radio anymore.

Sam Greenfield, Manhattan

Scott Pellegrino replies: This letter is loaded with nonsense. Judge its veracity in light of Greenfield's 11/2/00 on-air slander of Ralph Nader: (Greenfield addressing a caller) "I think we've got bigger fish to fry about Mr. Nader than his condescension towards Gov. Bush. I think his nascent anti-Semitism, his inability to see that there's political differences between Gore and Bush...as time goes on, Mr. Nader's going to lose any kind of mandate that he has because his views turn out to be to many people who do vote, despicable! You know, there's one thing about New York Jews?Jews vote!... If you want to win in New York state, you have to be pleasing to Jewish voters and Ralph Nader has shown that he's political suicide?political suicide!?and doesn't care." Anyone interested in hearing a tape of this can contact me at pellegrinoland@aol.com.

We Share Tips

MUGGER: For the past three or four months I've read your weekly column on the Web. Can't remember what first led me to read, but I do remember seeing "MUGGER" as one of the listed items on the Drudge Report. I like the personal style mixed in with your reasoned judgment that tends toward 1965 liberalism?in other words, conservative by today's standards. It's the antidote to the prevailing ideology rampant in the news I'm forced to read here in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere. And you can be a hoot to boot.

From reading you I've been led to other areas of your site and find it similarly a good read. Your efforts are noted and appreciated. If you had a tip jar installed I'd be more than happy to contribute.

Robert Holmgren, Menlo Park, CA

Prickly Cockburn

MUGGER: I always enjoy reading your features, but "Cactus Smuggling" by Alexander Cockburn ("Wild Justice," 8/15) was inspirational. Ed Abbey himself could not have written a more true and insightful piece.

Dave Dimmer, Toledo

You Sound Surprised

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I just read your Herman Badillo cover story and it seems as though you say Badillo's Democratic opponents are bad because they're career politicians, but Herman is qualified to run the city because he's a career politician (with much experience). You imply that a long history of working in politics is bad, and then you imply the exact opposite. Could you please make up your mind?

My opinion is that Badillo is not a very bright guy, as he's not articulated any solutions for any of NYC's myriad problems, and you didn't list any of his great ideas. I've seen him speak in public and he says the exact same things as the other candidates.

Jim Moray, Manhattan

Absent Herman

Re Russ Smith & John Strausbaugh's Q&A with Herman Badillo (8/15). I have been a member of the CUNY Faculty Senate during Badillo's time as chair of the Board of Trustees, and he's never appeared at a Senate meeting. If you deal with him for any length of time, you will come to find that Herman's version of reality is wholly constructed within his own mind. If facts and figures don't agree with it, then the way to deal with that is to have a study done in which everyone involved understands that the results will be A, B, C from the outset, no matter what information is gathered.

If one looks at the report of the Mayor's Task Force on CUNY, this is fairly apparent. Most of us could have written the cover document the day the Task Force first convened, simply by using previous documents by its authors. Everything that deals with real information in that report is in the appendices, and the appendices very often conflict with the cover document?but of course, only the cover document is generally distributed.

Thane Doss, BMCC/Hunter

Where Was Badillo?

If anyone recalls a time when Herman Badillo "debated" the Faculty senate, I would appreciate being reminded. What I do recall is that he never attended one single meeting with the University Faculty Senate plenary, its executive committee, any conference to which he was invited, any graduation (except for one at Baruch where he more or less said "this is my kind of college" and the one at Hunter), nor do I recall his answering any faculty invitation.

If my memory serves, he also never attended the PSC Belle Zeller dinners to which he was invited, along with all the other trustees, as a courtesy. He did attend meetings of the CUNY AS and the Manhattan Institute.

Herman Badillo has the distinction of being the only board chair to snub the Faculty Senate since it was instituted. For someone who was so devoted to his own City College experience, he failed to attend the important 1997 graduation that celebrated 150 years of City (and thus, CUNY's) history. Indeed, the board sent no one to that graduation except myself, and while this was flattering personally, it was an insult to the college and university. It is very difficult for me to understand what our trustees think their role is.

Sandi Cooper, former chair, CUNY Faculty Senate

"Armond" Says You're Welcome

To whoever wrote that incredible parody Armond White review of the new NSYNC video ("Film," 8/15): Thanks a lot. I laughed my ass off.

Tom Patterson, Brooklyn

Market Research

Where did you find this woman Carol Iannone? She is so on the money ("Taki's Top Drawer," 8/15). And tell Chris Caldwell ("Hill of Beans," 8/15) that I, too, have wondered how they do it: how do they manage to find the one song that means the most to you and use it to sell their shitty products? How did those Honda people get hold of Sarah Vaughan's "Key Largo"? Regards as always to Slivka.

Anne Siebenhoven, Manhattan

What I Don't Like About You

Christopher CaldwelL calls the band the Romantics "bad." Yet in the 1980s they were cool enough to cover Andre Williams, Richard & the Young Lions and a Kinks rarity back when most people had forgotten them. They jumpstarted the revival of interest in those musicians. I guess if the other bands we were listening to in those days (the Plimsouls, the Ramones, the Fleshtones) had a catchy hit we'd be calling them "bad" too, right?

Pat Lozito, Brooklyn

Macho Perverts

As he often does, Jim Knipfel brought back memories with his column ("e-Slackjaw," 8/15) about the vicar going to prison. During my senior year in high school in 1966 I was taught social studies by a former Marine who presented himself as the epitome of macho. I was appointed to West Point early in my senior year. I do concede that I was a smartass in this teacher's class. However, I was humiliated when he announced in front of the whole class that I would never make it through West Point because I wasn't disciplined or tough enough. This, of course, gave me great incentive to endure the rigors of the academy.

Some years after I graduated I laughingly told a friend about what the teacher said in class that day. My friend looked at me seriously and said, "Obviously you've been away in the Army and haven't heard." The "macho" teacher had gone to prison for criminal sexual misconduct.

I feel awful about this teacher's victims and sometimes it takes a while, Jim, but bad vicars and bad "macho" teachers usually receive their harsh reward. It's sad but poetic justice to see this former teacher listed in the state sex-offenders registry.

By the way, my wife was raised in the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church and does not have fond memories of it at all, but that is another story.

Steve Hume, Canton, MI

Little Pal

With the exception of the brilliant "Maakies," most of the comics in New York Press for the four years I have lived in New York City have been ugly, stupid or both. But I have to applaud you for including "Bee," a strip that is both nice to look at and fun to read. Bravo to you and to Jason Little.

Mitchell Glodek, Manhattan

Dissed in the Heartland

Andrey Slivka: Two weeks ago you attacked all the Mid-American Dupes ("Daily Billboard," 8/2). Last week you attack American businessmen?hustlers, I think you called them?("Daily Billboard," 8/15)?as well as Rotarians, these being the mostly charitable American organizations made up of hustlers, not to mention those who clean up our pools, build our houses and sell us autos. It seems to me that what we really have here with you, Andrey, is not an American commentator but an American hater. Maybe if you got a real job and had to work for a living sometime you wouldn't be so hard on the American working man. It is becoming very clear that the only time you break the sound barrier is when it comes out of your ass.

Thomas M. Paynter, Las Vegas

The editors reply: Writing is work, Mr. Paynter. For some Americans, it's even a real job.

Alter-Ego

MUGGER: I loved your assault on Eric Alterman (8/15). Could one imagine a less pleasant fellow? He's perfect for The Nation: a true fellow-traveler.

Sean Smith, Lemoore, CA

The Word from Mt. Sinai

MUGGER: First let me say that I'm an ardent admirer of your writing and have greatly enjoyed your columns. I hope to read many more. Second, with regard to the latest column (8/15), may I ask you not to conjoin the words "extreme" with "Catholic"? It's done far too often, and entirely because of our church's position on the sanctity of unborn human life. As a journalist, you're undoubtedly familiar with the way the word "extreme" is assigned to a view to denigrate it or render it distasteful without consideration of its actual merits.

What our adversaries call "extreme," we call principled. It is always the case that a stance on principle looks "extreme" to those who don't share the principle. Yet there is no getting away from principle; it pervades the universe, because the universe has built-in laws that no one's opinion can affect. Keep up the fine and important work.

Francis Porretto, Mount Sinai, NY

Pro-Life in Baltimore

MUGGER: I usually find your column easy to understand. This one on embryonic stem cell research I couldn't decipher (8/15). Do you think Bush went too far or not far enough? Although I voted for him and will probably vote for him again, he was wrong to allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Human life is sacred, regardless of the circumstances of conception, from the moment of conception until natural death.

Sharon Rusino, Baltimore

Porno-Hackery?

It's hard to take someone seriously who denounces Pulp Fiction as trash ("Taki's Top Drawer," 8/15)?which, for the most part, it certainly is, although not for the reasons Carol Iannone describes?then extols mindless, meaningless nonsense like Michael Mann's Heat. Finding enlightenment in jejune beefcake ridiculum makes you as difficult to trust and believe as the movie critics you hope to denounce. Stick to the porno-hackery of your usual column, if the editor deigns to let you to keep it.

Dick Binder, Los Angeles

Next to Fredonia

I realize that language changes rapidly these days. And I know that "bohemian" has been used for quite some time to describe a certain style of life. However, please stop capitalizing the word ("Old Smoke," 4/25). My ancestry is third-generation American, half-German and half-Bohemian. Yes, I know the country got gone after World War I but I'd be happy to send you a map if you need one.

Larry Woldt, St. Paul, MN

Why, Thanks

In general, your paper's observations are accurate and entertaining. Could you do one on Mideast newspeak? The occupied territories have become "disputed lands." Even our President has caught this bug, referring to a horribly misguided suicide bomber as a "coward."

Ron Carpenter, Panama City, FL

Scouting Report

MUGGER: Lizzie Grubman is toast and not worth your time (7/25), unless she gets five years per count, served consecutively, with half off for good behavior. Lizzie couldn't have enough good behavior to serve fewer than 32-33 years.

My Minnesota Twins will lose to Cleveland, but will put up a good fight...better than expected. The "Torch" will survive, unfortunately. Too bad, because his demise would cause Trent Lott to chuckle, to say the least. Strom would have to survive.

At some point you, personally, need to shout on the Internet! Bush rules, a fact that causes democrats to rue their support of cloning. (Notice, I used a small "d" in democrats...they aren't.)

My governor (I live in Minnesota) could resolve the Chandra Levy question with half an hour to an hour alone with Condit. You need an hour with Jesse on the Net, just to let him explain the balance of power. Jesse is not the average politician.

Doug Gossard, Minneapolis

By No Means Simpleminded

MUGGER: Forgive my simpleminded fixation with baseball, but you are one of the few non-sportswriters whose comments on baseball I enjoy. So give us some baseball commentary. Enough of this August political crap. We all know Al Bore is going to try to reinvent himself again, and that Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt and the throng of Demcrap clones are going to attack Bush at every opportunity. Maureen Dowd and the rest of the Times goons are going to continue to shill and shrill about what an idiot GWB is and how his policies are leading us to rack and ruin, and how disingenuous he is and blah, blah, blah ad infinitum.

Personally, I would like to hear your thoughts on a Red Sox and Astros World Series. It would be a "Chowd" homecoming for Jeff Bagwell. Who knows, it might even be cool enough in Houston to open the roof and enjoy the Texas autumn.

Tracy Meadows, Brenham, TX

She's Biding Her Time

MUGGER: I enjoyed reading about all of the people you envy and are jealous of. Bush has accomplished very little that will not be undone in the Senate. His behind-the-scenes gurus planned everything and told him what to say. You can try to make Bush look erudite and capable but it will never work. You write about him and your far-right ideals as if you really had been mugged. Those propping up Bush and pretending that he is a man of presidential qualities are misleading him and themselves, and doing irreparable harm to the country and to the world. We will sit back patiently and watch it all backfire.

Mildred Perry Miller, Chattanooga

Made for Each Other

MUGGER: I enjoy your columns. We seem to dislike the same people! Keep up the good work, and don't give up on the Red Sox.

Chris Fox, Chicago

Cronies & Sycophants

Re Taki's column "Bill Bounces Back" ("Top Drawer," 8/8). This is the best article I have read regarding the corrupt Clinton era and its myths. There is a stench about the Clintons, but unfortunately their modus operandi has spread to UK politics and the sycophantic Blair dynasty that hands out titles and power to their friends and cronies. How strange that both in the UK and U.S. the self-styled intelligentsia of show business should slavishly give their support for these despots.

James Town, Braintree, Essex, UK

Shrub Cools Down, Ball Heats Up

MUGGER: Okay, I'll bite. First, the palliating notion that Shrub will "revisit" the stem cell issue within a year must have been a deadline goof, given that the Prez made it fairly clear that he intends to do no such thing (8/15). As always, he knows what he knows when he knows it after someone tells him what he knows. (The Sunday morning show spectacle was noteworthy; I can't remember a president whose loyal stalwarts felt compelled to convince Russert et al. that their boss was thinking about this, that he was really really doing some thinking.) Okay, you think it was a deeply felt response to a complicated issue, maybe you're right. I think it was the least he could do without doing...nothing. And while I'd love it if he were moving his red staters in the right direction on this, I don't believe he has either the will or the courage or, oddly enough, the interest.

Sure, Eric Alterman can be a prick, though I'm not sure attaching "affluent" to his name is necessarily as damning as you think?didn't the same condition confer a kind of independence on Bloomberg in the previous grafs? When's the last time you referred to Rush as an affluent political commentator??but he's right about Nader, and I'd be happy if Ralph and McCain each took an extended hiatus next time around. Both are driven by ego and hubris and a desire to find the greatest number of cameras in the briefest period of time. You don't have to visit France to understand what happens when third and fourth and fifth parties start to tilt the electoral mix.

On Howie Carr?if he sounds like stand-up material to you, you need to get to a comedy club, or at the very least check out an SCTV rerun after Conan. More importantly, back to the Sox and the Yankees. Who swoons loudest and longest? Beats me. I'm going to the stadium to watch a couple Tampa Bay games, a nice way to prop up the old illusions, but that Oakland series was a dire portent, though it probably also guaranteed that Giambi will be wearing pinstripes next season.

Harley Peyton, Santa Monica

Especially in "The Mail," Right Jason?

Letter-writer Gina Coleman ("The Mail," 8/15) bemoans the "conservative" campaign to destroy John McCain. Naively, she writes: "Republicans who write these types of articles...are doing nothing to assist the President in his efforts to 'change the tone' of Americans' political debate. Other than encouraging your readers to hate, I'm not sure what you think you are accomplishing." Well, precisely, my dear. That is exactly what reactionaries are best at?encouraging people to hate. Reactionaries are spiteful antihumanitarians, as the antisocial thrust of their verbiage and ideology makes obvious. Exhibit A: The GOP. Exhibit B: Fascists. Exhibit C: the weekly sneering misanthropy of New York Press.

Jason Zenith, Manhattan

Radio, Radio

Scott Pellegrino's diatribe on WEVD ("New York City," 8/15) was another thinly veiled attack on conservative stations WOR and WABC. The arguments that Pellegrino used were the typical line: all hosts at WABC and WOR are racist against blacks and Palestinians, the conservative blacks that WABC uses are Uncle Toms, there is no other hate radio besides those two stations.

Let me suggest something to Pellegrino. There are two stations in this city that would be great for him and his ilk to listen to: WBAI (99.5 FM?Pacifica Broadcasting) is as left and socialist as can be and was also the former home of one Lynn Samuels?the radical communist/feminist who is now heard on WABC. Oh, that's right, there is only one opinion at WABC. And if you truly want hate radio, check out WLIB (1190 AM?Inner City Broadcasting). This truly noninclusive radio station had and may continue to have a policy where if you were white you could not get your opinions heard on the air. While WLIB continues to allow the racist, one-sided, anti-Semitic and antiwhite opinions of Al Sharpton and Sonny Carson to air, WABC has allowed both sides of the race issue to be heard, especially on the Sean Hannity Show, where he has interviewed Kwanel X (of the New Black Panther Party), Conrad Muhammad, Julian Bond (of the NAACP) as well as the Rev. Jesse Peterson (of BOND), J.C. Watts and others.

Jason I. Block, Brooklyn

Wrong Wrong Wrong

You are wrong, Scott Pellegrino. Bill Mazer, Sam Greenfield and Alan Colmes are extremely interesting and talented. I love listening to them. You are a cynical hack?I bet WEVD fired you.

Rochelle Schmidt, Yonkers

All About the Arbitrons

I'd like to comment on two aspects of Scott Pellegrino's article. Firstly, as far as I know Rush Limbaugh and Bob Grant did not have to blow any radio exec. Their respective ratings are so high that radio execs are more than glad to pay them more in order to keep them on their respective stations. The programs that Pellegrino had produced for WEVD, on the other hand, had far lower ratings, hence the need to sell the unprofitable station. On the Israel vs. Palestinians subject, I'd like to remind Pellegrino that the Forward organization was created to promote Jewish subjects. Israel is a Jewish subject. The Palestinians are a Jewish subject only in the same sense that David Duke and the KKK are?they are the enemy. However, if Pellegrino wants to promote the Palestinians' interests, why not go to WBAI? According to them the Palestinians are always right and Israel is always wrong, no matter what.

Ze'ev Atlas, Teaneck, NJ

Dreyfus' Affair

"Pellegrino" was once associated with reasonably okay water, but it hasn't been since the advent of this guy who's sliced and diced the venerable radio station WEVD ("New York City," 8/15). If the writer of this diatribe so ripe with feculent and rabid body orifice allusions were a syrup, he'd best Coke for dissolving hard surfaces and bone.

His foaminess-at-the-mouth against a station that has apparently dismissed him (he refers to his former slot there, but not to his eventually being off-loaded, no doubt because his stench of frenzied hatred and mad-coward disease was too overpowering to stomach) was something to witness. One reads a horsecartload of offal in the nexus of media in Gotham, but Pellegrino takes the manure for tortured loathing.

I have listened to several of the shows on WEVD, and differ strongly with his vicious and arrogantly Jurassic assessment. Take Beth Gilinsky's program, for instance. He adduced no evidence whatsoever for his compunctionless characterization of her as a "racist wildebeest." In what way, when, with whom, why? I've heard her and her interesting guests, and never heard her say a single word that could not be supported by news stories in the general media. Her language was far more reasoned and moderate than is Pellegrino's in assigning difficulties or differences from her own view. Pellegrino's bizarre rant goes off the tracks and over the top for a person not on expensive proscribed substances. What is his specific problem? From the sound of his histrionic libels and foaming-mouthed lunacy, one could infer he's not long for this planet. He can join his alien-held confreres from plain zooming out into frontal-lobe spaciness or from a surefire coming-soon myocardial infarct. He must be mixing it up pretty heavy with the Colombians to be attacking everyone in his sights this way.

I think the management at New York Press owes the people at WEVD a major apologia, particularly Ms. Gilinsky, whose only "crime" seems to be not subscribing to the same vacuous, leftist conspiratorial cretinism on politics and government that Pellegrino espouses. I'm worried about the guy. Won't he burst from all the sinkhole juices marinating pestilentially in that hyperheated housing excuse for a human? When can readers expect an apology from him to the people he's so unfairly maligned? (And who, who will dare approach the hydrophobic himself to immediately administer his Zoloft?)

Marion Dreyfus, Manhattan

The Memphis Blues

Johnny Scorpio: Glad you got out of Frisco before it drops off into the ocean ("Black and White," 7/25). Best of luck in clean Alaska. Wish I could join you.

James Huggins, Memphis

Hallelujah!

Johnny Scorpio: Funny, the exact same thing happened to me in DC about 10 years ago, only I was on crutches at the time, so my assaulter not only didn't like white people, but didn't like handicapped people either. The police, who caught the guy thanks to a brave witness (I didn't see any of it?do they train people to deliver the side punch?), gave me the same story of how nothing will happen and no one cares, so I let the idiot go (much to the chagrin of the witness, who then feared for her safety).

I suppose this event could have made me believe that black people suck, but I've met too many white punks and good black people to be fooled. White, Hispanic, Asian, black?a punk is a punk is a punk. Thank God for concealed carry!

David Spofford, Haymarket, VA

Not Just L.A., Babe

Re Stephen Hunt's article ("First Person," 5/16): Racism is alive and well in New York City, too. Please inform your wife that I've been "crazy" since 1994, the year I arrived in this city where racism, elitism and classism never sleep.

I consider myself an American Mestizo. We are, when one contemplates for a moment, a uniquely diverse bunch. Mestizos are a mix of Spanish and Native American lineage. We are, at once, a blending of the old and the new, a potpourri of ancient cultures, traditions and heritage both Western and Eastern. In our hearts pumps blood full of the best and worst of both worlds. We are The Race?La Raza. We do not celebrate Columbus Day as a day of discovery or as a day of destruction. Rather, it is the day of our creation, the moment that we came into being.

Some in L.A. would call us Chicano, some Latino, some Mexican-American. We are citizens of the United States of America, no more, no less. I'm sure you've seen us around Los Angeles. A great number of us live on the east side and in the surrounding counties. In fact, most of us living in the Western states have been U.S. citizens since the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. I was born in Los Angeles (in the Hollywood district, to be exact) and raised in the southeast Los Angeles County suburban town of Norwalk. No doubt you've heard of Norwalk. Settlers from Norwalk, CT, founded it more than 100 years ago?assuming that you are from the East you've no doubt heard of its namesake as well. If you haven't heard of Norwalk, CA, then I am sure you've driven through it on I-5 going to a San Diego Padres game, though I have found that most transplanted residents of L.A. don't travel much beyond the 101/5 interchange.

I followed the promise of higher education and got into a highly regarded graduate program in the Ivy League university located on this tiny island off the coast of New Jersey. It is here, as a student and subsequent resident, that I went "crazy" to the point of seeking medical confirmation, only to be diagnosed with the dull angst of cultural/societal displacement anxiety. Please tell your wife that I, too, have become very sick and tired of walking into midtown office buildings only to be stopped and questioned, usually by African-American or African doormen or guards, while my white wife is allowed to enter unimpeded. Please tell your wife that I, too, am over being followed in chain and local retail stores, upscale and bargain, by virtue of my brownish skin tone, dark hair and dark eyes. Please tell your wife that I, too, have reached the point where I now just wave at the surveillance cameras that I see pointed my direction.

Please tell your wife that I had the rare experience of hearing myself described over a series of walkie-talkies as I traversed the campus to my work-study position at my illustrious alma mater, as then Vice President Al Gore was preparing to arrive and speak to the entrenched powers that be. "Caution. Hispanic male with black bag and green shirt approaching sector." Please tell your wife that I, too, have had it with being flashed by searchlights from passing NYPD patrol cars cruising my white, yuppie-something, Brooklyn neighborhood.

I am reminded of an incident that happened while traveling on Amtrak from San Diego to Los Angeles one summer afternoon. I was rudely awakened from a nap by INS agents and taken into a cordoned-off section of a train car for questioning. They assumed I was an illegal alien trying to get to L.A., since, you know, we all "look alike." I fit their description of a suspected illegal alien?Hispanic male traveling alone. I had to show them several pieces of identification, even after they spoke with me at length in English?which they had to, since I can't speak Spanish. Here in New York, I dread the day a Honduran, Nicaraguan, Guatemalan, Mexican or even a Puerto Rican male is wanted for a violent and heinous crime against white humanity, as that would make me instantly suspect as well.

The flipside to such notorious attention is the virtual shunning of my existence. I've grown accustomed to being the other, to being underestimated, to being suspect, to being altogether ignored, unseen, invisible. Among my favorite places to be invisible are the East Village and my hip, up-and-coming Brooklyn neighborhood. I usually go undetected in either place, flying beneath the coolness radar, as I am not one to wear my art on my sleeve, failing to sport funky glasses, tussled hair and a goatee.

The young, downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn contemporary bohos have yet to learn that my kind is here to serve them, their trustfunds and family connections allowing them to be independent and free of such obvious assumptions. They will learn to use their privileged place in our society and soon, like their much more experienced counterparts who inhabit the Upper East Side and the Upper West Side, they, too, will mistake me for the help?how do you suppose that I would know what aisle the biscotti is in when I'm shopping here too? Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you worked here.

Please tell your wife that the elite, racially biased majority is prevalent on both coasts. If L.A. appears to be compulsively private, then New York is compulsively exclusive. What goes on behind the closed, guarded doors of the Upper East Side is as secret to me as the gated communities of Southern California are to you, and probably much more sinister. In New York the landowners are the only people who can afford Knicks tickets. And as far as the show business industry goes, all one needs to do is read a week's worth of Daily Variety to understand that it is one of the most racially biased institutions in our society, especially toward Latinos.

New York City calls itself the Capital of the World, and therefore, in my opinion, it is the center of the status quo. It is the heart of a system that created oppression, that condones racial bias and that maintains an economic power structure where a tiny percentage of the population controls an extraordinary percentage of the wealth and the resources to wealth. If truth be told, New York City is deeply implicated in serious crimes against humanity. New York and Los Angeles and every other major, minor, small or ghost town nationwide will never change if the majority white society continues to nourish itself off the teat of assumed superiority.

I feel for your wife. Unfortunately, truth telling is not exclusive to Los Angeles.

Sal Velazquez, Brooklyn