Will on ‘Racial Spoils System’

This letter is in response to George Will’s column “The Court Reagan Built Does Much to Roll Back the Racial Spoils System” (Op-Ed Page, Jan. 29).

It is surprising to note how much history a historian can forget. Will’s essay ignores the central issue which led to reverse racial discrimination: A white male quota system, a white male spoils system, a white male discrimination system exists and has oppressed, tormented and killed American citizens for hundreds of years. This system is not legal, but cultural.

Few laws remain on the books to identify it, but it exists and is highly visible. One simple example is the practice of many elite universities which give admission preferences to the children of alumni as a separate consideration in addition to academic qualifications. Such a system promotes the racial imbalance of the past. A separate guideline to insure a similar special consideration for ethnic and female applicants must be put in place while the first guideline continues.

Too many statistics about pay, hiring and promotion practices; too many incidents of neighborhood racism; too much emphasis on the legalities of racial and gender quotas belie a subtle and not-so-subtle evil. Will writes that blacks have gained much, not from changes in government but from changes in our “free society.” Free society? It is dangerously naive to presume and print that we are all free.

What is Will’s solution to the current racism and sexism in our society? Criticizing one approach is a worthless and mean-spirited endeavor without a greater effort towards designing and enacting a comprehensive solution.

Mr. Will, lead, follow or get out of the way.

SPENCER TEPPER

Los Angeles