Letters

Reginald Bauer, M.D.
Palos Verdes, California

PATRIOT CLAIMS

Re Nat Hentoff's "U.S. Black Leaders Confront Mugabe" [June 18-24]:

I have followed Nat Hentoff's columns on Robert Mugabe with an increasing sense of rage. How can this administration claim to support human rights and oppose tyranny when people in Zimbabwe are being oppressed like this? If we're talking about black leaders in the U.S. speaking out, where is the voice of the secretary of state in all this? Forget black leaders; where are the rest of the leaders in America? How can our nation be an example of freedom and justice when we won't stand up to this brutal dictator? Apparently, our commitment to freedom and justice is only vocal. It makes me ashamed of what we did in Iraq: Is freedom there more important than the freedom of the people of Zimbabwe? Thank you, Nat Hentoff, for writing about this issue. If anyone can claim to be a patriot, it's people like you who speak out above the roar of pop culture and mainstream media.

Michael Woywood
Caldwell, Texas

S/HE'S A S/HE

To settle a bet: Could you please tell me the gender of the naked person on the left side of the photo on the cover of "The Queer Issue" [June 25-July 1]?

Janice Aber
Great Neck, NY