Letters: Black president has a black base

MARC LAMONT Hill's May 25 column (

"Black Pols Vs. Pols Who are Black"

) may be accommodating to "whites," who he suggests may be "uncomfortable" with "race" talk - but he, conveniently, never made the point that there seems to be a double standard when it comes to the African-American vote.

For example, it's said that Barack Obama is "everybody's president," not just the president of African-Americans. Yet not a single other president in U.S. history has ever had that standard of representing all voters, from the slave owner George Washington to Bill Clinton, who was president when the Million Man March occurred in 1995.

So the real question is why can't a "black" politician represent those who are overwhelmingly his constituents? This is especially relevant, since how would Mayor Nutter, much less President Obama, have gotten into office without the "black" vote?

G. Djata Bumpus

Philadelphia

nolead begins

I'm happy to hear about the problem lot in letter-writer Maryann Zindell's neighborhood that was "fixed," but the area mentioned, the 5300 block of Eadom Street, isn't Bridesburg - it's Frankford or maybe even Wissinoming.

I'll give you a quick rundown on Bridesburg's borders - south to the Frankford Creek, east to the Delaware River, west to Aramingo Avenue and north to the Rose Funeral Home on Bridge Street.

I wish the surrounding areas (especially Frankford Valley and Wissinoming) would stop trying to latch onto our good name! Realtors should also take note and stop selling people houses in "Bridesburg" when they're actually selling houses in Frankford Valley, which is west of Aramingo Avenue.

Danny Carr, Philadelphia

Note: The editor screwed up the neighborhood, not the writer.