Author Comes Up With the Wrong Conclusions

Re: “Worlds Apart” (July 31): First, in response to the description of an experiment by Lawrence Graham, a lawyer and author of “Member of the Club.” Graham and a friend made reservations to eat at “10 of Manhattan’s best restaurants.” The result was “lost” reservations, humiliating mistaken identity or seats in Siberia.

I would like to gently point out that supercilious serving persons are legend. Perhaps at least a part of Graham’s poor treatment at their hands arose not from his being black but from his not being Somebody .

None of this is to wave away problems that still exist. I may be doing Graham a disservice, writing this before reading his book in toto. However, Graham and other affluent blacks need to take a deep breath and realize that white society is not monolithic, pace Newt Gingrich’s assertion of a single culture dating from 1607. Graham has his ticket to ride and will just have to crash through barriers with the rest of us.

CECILIA E. HENDERSON

Cypress