Letters to the editor

Affirmative action is a good idea despite
imperfections Robert Johnston in “Students have
forsaken ideals in accepting affirmative action” (Jan. 9) is
naive to assume that equality is a goal that will be accomplished
with no direct intervention. To call affirmative action an
“easy way to do penance” for 300 years of slavery,
racism and injustice the minorities of this country suffered is a
woeful overstatement. If such a “penance” is something
we owe, we have a long way to go before we can repay such a debt.
He demands equality, a fight for idealism. Sadly, he is a victim of
the so-called vague rhetoric that shouts out propaganda without
suggesting any viable solution. I understand his sentiment, however
he is ultimately misguided in his quest for a solution. Affirmative
action is a good idea, but it is not a perfect system. We should
find ways to improve it, not ban the entire concept. For instance,
the program should include socioeconomic status as a larger factor,
along with ethnicity. The spirit of the program is about providing
opportunity to those who do not have it, and it would be
presumptuous of Johnston to think that everyone has had the same
kind of opportunities that he has been privy to.

Minuk Kim UCLA alumnus, 2003