This is in regards to the article entitled “Affirmative Action: Promoting inequality since 1961.” In the past, perhaps I would have read an article like the one in question and chuckled, or if I decided to write in, would submit a well-structured dismantling of the absurd argument made in this particular editorial. At current, there is only rage. The only way that some person could hold the opinions expressed in this article is by blatantly ignoring facts and history. So any information I bring to the attention of Mr. Hurtado, any suggestion that Affirmative Action is not some sort of retributive policy, that hundreds of years of institutionalized racism, oppression and slavery still have a large impact on people of color and their opportunities in comparison to whites today, or that reverse racism is an impossible concept, would all be denied or ignored. So instead, I’m just going to say some things that need to be said.
Fear drives people to do, say, and think ridiculous things. There are people like David Hurtado that are afraid of the change that’s coming. But the beauty of it is that no matter what they believe, no matter how afraid they are, the United States will continue to take steps to promote equality, and more taxes will be levied to create a national healthcare system. And best of all, it will become socially unacceptable to voice uninformed, bigoted opinions like the ones that formulate “Affirmative Action.” The future holds even more pushback from the underclass and from people of color.
Lastly, a suggestion: The fine school that Mr. Hurtado writes for offers American, Latin American, and African American history courses that I recommend he take; that way, his next opinion piece won’t need to have “unfounded” written in front of it.
“If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, that’s not progress. If you pull it all the way out, that’s not progress. The progress comes from healing the wound that the blow made. They haven’t even begun to pull the knife out. They won’t even admit the knife is there.” –Malcolm X
Taylor Dunn, student
Related column: Affirmative Action: Promoting inequality since 1961
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