Letters: STILL HOT & HEAVY ON PHILADELPHIA'S FINEST

THANK YOU, letter-writer Juanita Harris, for showing the public how the powers that be are one-sided in applying the law.

The first thing some people say when blacks commit a violent crime is "Where are the parents? How were they raised?" So I say to these officers, "Where are your parents? Did they bring you up to apply brute force to unarmed men? Do you go home to you children and say, 'Daddy kicked and beat an unarmed man today?' "

And you can't say you thought there was a weapon in the vehicle because it has already been stated that the stakeout team watched four men get out, watched one start shooting, saw three men get back in the car and watched the shooter get away.

Sounds like some Keystone Kops stuff. Stress is not an excuse for cops, the same as not being able to find a job or being unemployed is not an excuse to rob, shoot or kill anybody, not just an officer of the law.

Royal Richardson, Havertown

There are two sets of laws - one for blacks, one for whites. Blacks get everything handed to them. The three black people beat up by police just got finished shooting three people. Now the families will probably sue the city because their kids are criminals.

Mike Quinn, Philadelphia

So a friend and loved one is gunned down in cold blood in the middle of a sunny Port Richmond street. What do I do? Gather up 14 of my gang and beat down the first people we come across? Should we be arrested? Oh! I didn't mention that we are cops!

Does a badge give you the right to behave like an animal because your feelings are hurt? I guess so.

Michael A. Grant Jr., Philadelphia

Drugs & violence

Cartoonist Signe Wilkinson is apparently unaware that the only reason there's violence in the drug trade is the illegality of the drugs. There's nothing in the nature of cocaine, marijuana or any other drug that the sellers have to be violent. It's the nature of the black market, which is created as a reaction to government policies. End the failed war on drugs and the gangs are out of business.

Dave Howard, Round Rock, Texas

What about Huckabee?

John Baer and other fair and balanced media outlets are so angry that Hillary Clinton will not get out of the Democratic race. Where was all this concern when Republican Mike Huckabee wouldn't drop out when he had no chance of winning the GOP nomination, just the plan to draw votes away from Mitt Romney, helping out his friend John McCain?

Keith Callan, Philadelphia