You have now run two letters protesting Jonathan Miller's identification of Shakespeare's character Othello as white (Calendar, July 12, 16). I am still waiting for a letter protesting the identification by the film "Clash of the Titans" of the female lead, Andromeda, as a Phoenician.  Those of us who remember our Greek mythology know that Andromeda was a Nubian princess, from the land called Ethiopia by the Greeks.  Contemporary archaeology and physical anthropology, as readers of William Adams' "Nubia: Corridor to Africa" can attest, establish that the population of classical Nubia was black African. The Greek descriptions agree.
    Shakespeare's play was written when white racism was first emerging; the myth of Perseus and Andromeda formed before such racism was even imaginable. While interracial love was one theme of Shakespeare's "Othello," it is not even remarked on in the Greek myth. Thus it can be argued that to have cast Andromeda with a black actress would change the meaning of the story for an American audience.  It seems to me that by making Andromeda not just white but blonde, the writer and producer are sending another message to black America.  They are saying "We don't like you, we don't want to think about you, and if ancient whites respected ancient blacks we are ashamed of that and will try to erase the memory of it."
    What surprises me most is the lack of response from the black community.  I recall that when the treasures of King Tutankhamen came to town there was a "Black King Tut Committee" that welcomed the much more mixed Egyptian monarch as a fellow black.  At a time when black actors and actresses are complaining about the lack of good parts being offered them (Calendar, July 9), why has there been no outcry about the theft of one of the greatest black roles of all literature?  Andromeda was one of the few heroines of Greek mythology whose husband was faithful to her.