What Makes a Minority Group?

In “When Demographics Change Faster Than Terms” (Jan. 10), reporter Lisa Richardson clearly stumbled in trying to define “minority.” As an expert witness in Hawaii vs. Dukelow (1977), I testified that an ethnic or racial group is a minority when the group is so far below the mean on a variety of social indicators that the group will not rise to a position of equality in our lifetime unless extraordinary measures are taken by government on its behalf. My definition was accepted by the two judges who ruled on the case.

MICHAEL HAAS

Los Angeles