I agree that prejudice exists. But if these 'bad apples' are really in a majority, why are they so marginalised? Why have they given up trying to gain power by democratic means and are reduced to the cowardly level of hate-mail and criminal assault.
Steve Mayes
London SE26
Richard Ellis prompted some soul-searching on the nature of racism. Its key feature is an undifferentiated hostility towards individuals solely on the basis of their race or nationality. So it was interesting to read Carol Sarler's piece in the same paper (see letters) where she uses intellectually bankrupt arguments to legitimise generalised hostility to Germans. It just shows that racism can pop up in the most unexpected places.
John Steadman
London NW6
As a black African married to a white Briton, we find we must plot and scheme just to have a normal life for our two children and ourselves. The sad fact is that no matter what strategies we put in place, we know there will be racist name-calling from time to time, not to mention 'jokes' by white family members. At work one is excluded, ignored, subtly reminded 'You do not belong'. In shops I am followed by guards hoping for a bonus for catching a thief.
Yes, overt and subtle racist prejudice gnaws at your soul. But I think black people owe it to themselves to do something drastically positive, like starting black friendly banks, fierce networking among themselves and other liberal Britons, and encouraging younger people to aim for the global village.
Mrs Jessie Davies
Wychwood, West Sussex
Richard Ellis is right. One of my neighbours said recently about Stephen Lawrence's father: 'He's making money out of it, just look at his clothes!' What do you say to someone like that?
Brian O'Gillahin
Paddock Wood, Kent
I was recently looking after my toddler grandson who is of mixed race when some friends introduced us to another family, saying what a gorgeous child he is. The other woman observed: 'They usually are, aren't they?' I felt my grandson was being seen as a specimen of something, rather than a lovely baby.
J.M. Penn-Barwell
Wimborne, Dorset
What can one say to Richard Ellis and not sound either like a racist or a 'benign liberal'? I do not know which South Africa he visited. In the one I visited at about the same time Xhosa would not mix with Zulu, blacks would not mix with 'coloureds' and the Afrikaners certainly not with the English.
Athena Zissimos
London NW6
Richard Ellis's article made no mention of Jack Straw's Asylum and Immigration Bill. Like a lot of middle-class, overpaid, over-privileged journalists, he puts the blame for racism on the British public. It is and always was those in power who are the instigators.
Linda Payne
New Ash Green, Kent
Ellis says he is embarrassed to be white because of racist remarks made by white relatives and the public. Anyone in a mixed-race relationship knows racism cuts both ways - everyone is capable of it.
Matthew Kopinski
London SE22
