Leonard's fact-free zone

Earlier this month I wrote that the Lawrence Journal-World's syndicated columnists are overwhelmingly liberals, and that those liberal columnists tend to be dishonest. Leonard Pitts provided more evidence of that with his latest column in which he takes on Michael Richards, Seinfeld's "Kramer." In his column, Pitts wrote that Seinfeld "presents New York City, of all places, as a black-free zone."

In truth, many blacks have appeared on the sitcom. Those in recurring roles include Phil Morris as the Johnnie Cochran-esque Jackie Chiles, Lawrence Mandley as Larry the Cook, the owner of Monk's Diner, and Tom Wright as Mr. Morgan. NBC's Al Roker and Bryant Gumbel even appeared as themselves on Seinfeld.

To call Seinfeld a black-free zone is outrageous, egregious, and preposterous.

Incidentally, during the years that Seinfeld was on the air (1989-1998), the Journal-World's newsroom was essentially a minority-free zone.