The new Family Dollar Store, located on the 1100 block of H Street NE, was broken into the night of Saturday, Nov. 20, and items were stolen that were displayed in the front window. And the store didn’t even open until Wednesday, Nov. 24. Welcome to the ghetto. I enjoyed your article on the Dollar Plus Food Store on Pennsylvania Avenue SE (“Dollar Diplomacy,” 11/19), but I think you pulled your punches.

I’ve spent time in several other dollar stores. There are two main problems encountered by the owners: First, the kids. The Dollar Store on 8th Street below Pennsylvania Avenue lets in only five or six kids in at a time. Otherwise, the store owner, who is an American black, tells me, they’d steal everything in sight. It does not speak well for black culture in D.C. that an entire generation of kids can be considered thieves.

Second, the envy and hatred many blacks feel toward anyone in their community who succeeds. I spent many hours at a convenience store a block south of the store I just mentioned. It was run by an Ethiopian. His customers frequently accused him of cheating them and called him a black Jew, apparently the worst insult there is. They constantly threatened him and his wife with violence.

I wish there were some way to write a second article for your paper on the dark(er) side of these stores.

Capitol Hill