Minority Hiring

The issue at Mira Mesa High School, where only nonwhite applicants for a position would be considered for hiring, is an abomination of fairness, “Minority Hiring Push Prompts City Schools Feud,” (July 27). If this is not discrimination, I don’t know what is. I had thought that the signs which proclaimed “Whites Only Need Apply,” came down in 1965. It appears that they have since been replaced with “Nonwhites Only Need Apply.” I see absolutely no difference between the two “policies.” I can’t imagine that this is lawful, but if it is legally sanctioned to refuse to consider someone because of the color of their skin, then our “system” has gotten totally out of control.

This obsession with quotas and “goals,” while detested by many from all parts of the political spectrum, lives on in the hearts and minds of many of our public officials, who are under relentless pressure to focus solely on the color of one’s skin, not the content of their character.

What this must do to the morale of personnel in the schools who are not “of color” must be devastating. How demoralizing must it be to feel that your prospects for promotion or advancement are practically nonexistent only because you are a white male or female. To our children, it sends a clear message. Classroom teaching about fairness and equal rights means little in the real world, where the tool of discrimination is now wielded (this time legally) against applicants by fate of birth. To call this type of discrimination “affirmative action” is doublespeak of the highest order.

Reasoned disagreement apparently is also not allowed. Affirmation Action Coordinator Sharon Whitehurst unfortunately reflects the notion that any statement by anyone who disagrees with or questions these discriminatory practices is a racist or reflecting racist beliefs. Her inflammatory and uninformed insights on the motivations of others while being paid out of the public coffers is an insult to all of us.

I urge fairness for everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, and I believe that our public officials must reflect this belief.

ROBERT ANDERSON, San Diego