Yes, there is a racial divide in Baltimore ("Baltimore leaders agree: City has a race problem," March 14). But is racism the real reason? How can there be a black mayor, a black chief of police and numerous black members of the Baltimore City Council, the city's police and fire departments and the school board if there is so much bias? Could the cause lie elsewhere?
The city has a disproportionate number of non-whites. That alone separates the population by race. Could this division be due to littered streets, poorly performing schools, lack of jobs and areas where buildings are either vacant or demolished leaving huge empty spaces? Why would people with the means not want to leave for better areas?
Whatever the cause of this division of the races, the city's only newspaper, the mayor and its police chief aren't helping solve the problem by publicly talking about it to a White House panel nor by highlighting it on the front page of the Sunday paper. Are they suggesting that the only solution is for there to be one race in Baltimore? That would be the ultimate form of racism.
Mary F. Rothenbuecher, Dundalk