New York revisited
Sir: It is surprising to find a journalist of the distinction of Ludovic Kennedy achieving such vast generalisations as those in his article on New York (7 March).
If I may comment on a few: 1. Judges in state courts, being for the most part popularly elected, have always varied greatly in quality, but bribery, fraud, and extortion are far from being as frequent and as taken for granted as he implies.
2. 'Any black found walking in a predominantly non-black area is always good for a police frisking'? One great difference in the last ten years is the number of blacks to be found in every part of town, in shops, restaurants, theatres and streets where they would seldom have been seen in the past. Does he mean that they are fre- quently frisked by the police? One can imagine the outcry if they were!
3. I don't think one should draw con- clusions about the imprisonment of the teenage Black Panther without bail without knowing the circumstances, or the charge.
4. Some of the many hundreds of thousands of Americans who visit Britain every year would certainly like to stay. Some of the British who visit Spain, Portugal, Greece, and even South Africa also ob- viously have wanted to stay. I don't see his point.
5. Mr Kennedy may be more touchable than most, but I've seldom noticed my fellow New Yorkers pawing their neighbours at the dinner table to establish their goodwill, demonstrative though we may be.
6. If he means the actual rather than a psychological gap between rich and poor and black and white. I believe that statistically the contrary is the case.
7. Mr Kennedy may well have seen blind black beggars dramatically placed outside Van Cleef and ArpeIs. I never have.
8. The 'myth' of free speech has probably never been proved more of a reality than during the last few shrill years. There have been more speeches, articles, 'underground newspapers' on every stand, protests, demonstrations and sheer open disagreement than would have seemed possible. Mr Ken- nedy should only cite the trial in Chicago in context and with at least a mention of the jury's verdict.
9. And to conclude on a petty note: I noticed black snow last week in the gutters in Pont Street.
I. F. McCrindle Amerique, Castle Street, Winchelsea, Sussex
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