Black-on-Black Killings

* Robin Yaesha Deane’s contention that something needs to be done about black-on-black crime is a legitimate concern (Voices, June 12). What she fails to note, though, is that the vast majority of violent crimes involve victims and assailants of the same race. She would have us believe that this is a tragedy unique to black Americans, and worse, that it is tolerated by the black community.

She attempts to compare recent, white police-black victim killings with black-on-black killings. Black-on-black crimes almost always involve only average citizens, whereas the killings of Tyisha Miller and Amadou Diallo involved (white) police officers and (black) citizens. It is simply illogical to compare apples and oranges, no matter what color they are. The reaction is not and cannot be the same.

CLIFF CARTER

Downey

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* Deane talked about the problem of black-on-black crime, but if she had dug a little deeper, she would have discovered that black people commit crimes because we are often victims of racism, which is a crime. It is racism that is killing us, not black-on-black crime. Racism destroys our self-esteem and potential and as a result, many black men commit crimes.

CHARLIE REYNOLDS

Hawthorne