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AS I READ YOUR MOST recent edition, where you provide a time line of the District’s sexual history (“Erotic City: A Sexual History of the District,” 7/28), it was interesting to note that distinctions are still being made in regards to sexual acts of African-American vs. white men. Specifically, your time line tells of a white male being the beneficiary of oral sex from a known prostitute. However, when Mayor Marion Barry is referenced as allegedly receiving the same act, it is called a “blowjob.” This is the continuing perpetuation of the African-American male being portrayed as a nasty, perverted, worthless sexual animal. Why couldn’t your paper have made the same reference to the act that these men received? The “oral sex” reference is a nicer way of saying a “blowjob.” Instead, your paper chose to equate the negative tone with the African-American male. This only continues to divide the races, and until this ideology is ceased, there is no chance of fairness being achieved.
Baltimore, Md.