Lessons from the school race case?

In the June 6 story “Court to Revisit Race in Schools,” a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation in Sacramento -- which urged the court to hear appeals on voluntary integration in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle -- said: “They are teaching our kids that race still matters. If they can continue to do that, we will never get to a place where the country is colorblind.” This is the old Southern argument I heard growing up in Louisville; the adage that integration will come on its own accord, the slow-but-sure approach -- while millions go without a decent education.

Race still matters because we are anything but a colorblind society. Minorities receive unequal resources in their formative education compared with their wealthier, white counterparts. The Supreme Court decision should include the forthright acknowledgment that racism still pervades the school system.

CHARLOTTE HILDEBRAND

Los Angeles

*

It seems as if only a racist can stop segregation. Everyone dreams of a colorblind school and community, but everyone thinks that this can happen without racism along the way. Pacific Legal Foundation lawyer Sharon L. Browne asks, “Can public schools voluntarily discriminate among students to achieve racial balance?” Well, they obviously have to if they want integrated schools. They have to keep it balanced so that no one will complain that there are too many whites or Hispanics or African Americans or any other minority.

But people will complain anyway. I attend a magnet school and have met people from different ethnicities. If I would have gone to my home school, the majority would have been Hispanic, and I would have missed the experiences I’ve had with other people.

CARLOS EDUARDO

Los Angeles