THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND of yellow journalism that keeps negative self-images thriving throughout the black community (“Black Hole,” 5/19). People like you are part of the problem! How much are they paying you to slander your own race?

Don’t try to justify it by saying that you just report the information you gather. You know that what you have done is just another blunt strike against the heart, mind, and soul of the black community. And you try to justify your story by putting in negative quotes from other prominent black figures.

What is going on within our community is a “family affair.” It is nobody else’s fucking business! You took an opportunity to air our dirty laundry before the whole world. I want you to know that your peers have no respect for you whatsoever after writing this article! You hate your own image. You hate the image of your brothers and sisters in the black community.

Why in the hell does everybody think we need a leader? We are all leaders! Every time we procure a black leader in this country, the government conspires to kill them anyway. All we need is one mind. One agenda. Mobilization. Unity. That is something that will be hard coming because of sellout motherfuckers like you! I despise the way you have held up our people for the world to ridicule. Shame, shame on you.

I don’t know what you see, but I see something totally different happening in the black community. When I go to work every day, I see thousands of black men, women, and children going to work and school! Decent people, trying to make it just like you did. You have been blessed with a powerful voice in this town. You chose to use it not to build up, but to tear down the black people of this community. I hope you never get another decent night’s sleep! What you wrote was wicked. No peace unto the wicked!

Articles like yours only help to perpetuate the negative images that whites have about blacks. A vast majority of whites don’t have the common sense, or don’t want to believe that blacks who are not doing well in government are not representative of all blacks! Just like when they see a young black man on TV, handcuffed and going to jail, they assume that all young black men are violent.

Running the District has nothing to do with governing without the impediment of the “white power structure.” The District of Columbia lacks leadership, period! You made reference to the fact that we have had several black officials that have brought this city down. Well, we have had thousands of white officials all over this nation, and this country is literally falling apart around us.

The federal and state powers-that-be knew long ago that the District was in trouble. They sat passively and let things deteriorate so that they could say, “Look at those niggers, they can’t do anything right.” And you’ve helped them reiterate their point loud and clear. You write as if black people are the only ones that misappropriate funds or have made bad judgment calls in government.

You did extensive research on what the problems within the black community are. Where is your research on the solutions?

P.S. I’m black and I’m proud!

Quantico, Va.