Richard Grayson letter in The New York Times: "A Minority of One"

Richard Grayson has a letter in the New York Times in the Magazine section today (Sunday, November 21, 1999), "A Minority of One":


As an idealistic undergraduate at the City University of New York, I volunteered to work in Herman Badillo's 1973 mayoral campaign. So I was outraged to read in James Traub's article (Oct. 31) that "Badillo doesn't regret a syllable" of his bigoted remarks, in which, among other things, he referred to Hispanic immigrants as "Incas and Mayas who are, you know, five feet tall with straight hair."

I am not ashamed to have worked for the Herman Badillo of 1973, but only because I believe that the man I knew back then would be ashamed of his 1999 self.

Richard Grayson
Davie, Fla.