Dear Editor

...Dear Editor The Role of Blacks Much of what George Gilder had to say about Thomas L Blair's book, Retreat to the Ghetto ("Mouthing Cliches," NL, February 13), stuck me as apt It is true that hardly anyone in a position of power today is a racist It is true that many more blacks have it better today than they ever did It is true that welfare and poverty programs reduce poor people to supplicants of the state, and hurt the family structure And it is true that most blacks simply "want to move up the class ladder, regardless of race or creed " Other points made in the review, however, struck less responsive chords Surely, Frederick Douglass would not have found it comforting to know that blacks would one day come to dominate professional athletics and serious music This is the sort of stigma blacks have been trying to escape this whole century—understandably, since no Jew would appreciate a remark that Jews excel at accounting and tailoring and no Greek wants to be told that his people are good short-order cooks One other thing There are many forms of discrimination that may not be racist, but are invidious nonetheless Because of the way society is now set up, for example, most black children will get a poorer education than white children As a result, their chances of making it are not great, even if this is finally beginning to happen with greater frequency Baton Rouge, La Wilfred Strand Freddy's Fortune I'm glad to see that Marvin Kitman, at least, is too smart to bang the drum for Freddy Silverman ("The Silvermanizing of TV," NL, February 13), whose hat trick testifies more to the lack of talent in the medium than to one man's not-so-spectacular abilities It is incredible, when you ponder the matter, that of all the thousands of people working in Wonderland, only Silverman was deemed suitable to occupy the presidency of NBC Freddy's good fortune testifies as well to how superstitious big-time businessmen can be The powers over at CBS and then ABC knew that Freddy himself was hardly a factor in any network's climb to the top spot in the ratings Yet they probably felt that simply having Silverman constantly in their pockets might prove, like a rabbit's foot, to be good luck Chicago Sandor James Not Valentine's Day I've seen almost every play Dean Valentine has so far reviewed, and, having found most of them at least entertaining, must conclude that his sesquipedalian nastiness is unjustified To take just one example, Valentine criticizes Jason Robards' performance in A Touch of the Poet ("Blarney and Bluster," NL, January 30), claiming that the actor did not achieve the necessary "largeness of character " Well, someone who has attended a performance of this work could tell you that the problem, if any exists, is that Robards is too large He dominates the show and forces everybody else out of the picture Besides, critics should be grateful for performances that may not be great but still tower over most everything being done on Broadway To attack a play or an actor or director according to some abstract notions of art simply does not make sense New York City Peter Carmen...