Affirmative Action and Prop. 209

Claude Steele, in “Can America Really Be Colorblind?” (Commentary, Aug. 25), reiterated the opposing positions on affirmative action. Both he and Rep. Tom Campbell (R-San Jose), his opponent, wrung their hands, bemoaned the facts and sat smugly on their doctrines. Neither showed he was able or interested in making any progress to discover a resolution to the impasse. Well, maybe I can help. Obviously the “big stick” of law didn’t work, and it could be applied only in government jobs.

Let’s try the carrot approach. The government could offer low-cost loans or tax breaks, etc. for hiring a percentage of minorities. This would be the capitalistic way, and money talks in our society. This method is not without precedent. During the Depression the Hoover administration created the Reconstruction Finance Corp., which lent money to companies that were near collapse or were about to lay off employees. The incentive system should be tried.

MILTON FINKEL

North Hollywood

* Re “The Race Line Is Drawn in California,” Column Left, Aug. 24:

Jesse Jackson rails about Prop. 209 as racially divisive. Instead, Jackson’s alternative is for people to identify themselves with specific race and gender groups. Then these identity groups should team up, as with Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition, and somehow shamelessly deny the objective reality that they are engaged in the basest form of divisive politics imaginable, and using the “racism” claim to discredit legitimate critics.

KIP DELLINGER

Santa Monica

* Jackson repeatedly uses the phrase “affirmative action and equal opportunity,” which sounds like an oxymoron to me.

DALE UTTERBACK

Studio City

* Re “Lone Black in Boalt Hall Class Urges Change,” Aug. 19:

I’ve sat here for almost an hour trying to figure out why that headline and story upset me so. We have been watching our civil rights eroding away, one piece at a time, while we sit silently. When the University of California regents banned consideration of race and gender in graduate and professional school admissions, every woman and every other minority in California should have stood up for our children, their futures and the future of America.

REGINA NICKERSON JONES

Los Angeles

* If the UC admissions policy is now “colorblind,” how can they quote specifically the number of each “racial/ethnic” group admitted, even before students have accepted and actually enrolled?

DARLENE AVERETTA

Long Beach