A reader takes issue with Charles Murray:

“I agree with many of the points Mr. Murray made-I’ve long admired much of his work. That being said, I am not too impressed by all of the argument he makes, most notably the paragraph that you quoted from.
“I agree that numbers matter–For example, Murray’s home zip code-21718. That’s a number. And the demographic breakdown: (more numbers)—Total pop.-177, White-168, Black-2, Hispanic-0.
“If he wants to live in a ‘Little Guatemala,’ he most certainly can gratify his wishes by moving to any number of neighborhoods in DC close to AEI. Let him actually do so for a year, and he can then get back to us.
“It reminds me of a favorite quotation: ‘Do not SAY things to me. What you ARE stands over you all the while, and thunders so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying to the contrary.’–Ralph Waldo Emerson.”

[Derb] But Charles didn’t say he wants to live in a Little Guatemala. He said he’d rather live in such a place than in some white neighborhoods he knows. Argue with what the man said, please. I’d rather lose an arm than a leg, but I’m not keen to lose either.

Do I agree with Charles’s point there? Yes I do: though the white neighborhoods I have in mind are all across the pond. I suppose there are white neighborhoods in the USA as bad as the ones Tony writes about. I don’t know any, I’ll admit. I guess I’ve lived a sheltered middle-class life here… Though the first place I ever lived in this country was New York’s Chinatown, Aug.-Nov. 1973.