LETTER: Wrong End

I expect people to have different perspectives on our society and the events happening around us. Sarah Goldfine and Theresa Weir (DP 2/10/92), however, amaze me with a perspective that is so obviously designed to further the immediate objectives of their movement, their unparalleled flair for mischaracterization and skillful ability to draw conclusions based on irrelevant data or without support at all. To begin with, if the authors had bothered to read the very paper in which their column is published they would have discovered several stories which provided the details of the robbery and the facts corroborating store clerk Kevin Dales' story. Dales did not choose to be the victim of a violent crime, he merely reacted to the situation which faced him; the situation which Andre McNatte and his accomplice created. Second, gentrification is hardly a valid model with which to characterize the University's activities in West Philadelphia. The University existed far before what is currently the situation in West Philadelphia. The University's worst crime, to use the authors' characterization, is stemming the tide of urban decay, for which I am sure many members of West Philadelphia and the city at large are thankful. Third, merchants is Philadelphia, or any major U.S. city, face an ominous obstacle to their success that pales in comparison to difficult economic times. As has been the case several times within the past year alone, local merchants have lost their lives, whether they were armed or unarmed, at the hands of people like Andre McNatte. The risk of operating an inner city convenience store, the risk of physical harm and property lost to thieves -- shoplifters or armed bandits -- is more likely the cause of inflated prices than is some ill-conceived gentrification scenario. I am white and I cannot afford "fancy goods and inflated prices" at some "Yuppie mecca." West Philadelphia's convenience stores may not be as competitive as stores in other areas, but maybe that situation exists because few people are willing to take the requisite risk, a possibility which eludes the authors. Finally, I will conclude by pointing out that the University and the merchants who establish businesses in West Philadlphia are a boon to the local economy creating thousands of jobs; perhaps Goldfine and Weir would rather have the University move to an area where "gentrification" would be less "detrimental." Racism is a terrible mentality, but not all acts of whites against blacks or blacks against whites are racist in nature. The last thing on Kevin Dales' mind when he shot Andre McNatte was McNatte's race. Kevin Dales was defending himself in the face of a violent crime. I cannot judge him, since my reaction to such a situation has thankfully never been tested. Goldfine and Weir would be well advised to do the same, for they may be surprised by their own acts if their time at the wrong end of a knife or gun should come. MICHAEL MOVSOVICH Law '92