Following the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in the University of Michigan's affirmative action programs, the St. Petersburg Times has received a number of letters from readers who desire race-neutral policies and claim that affirmative action discriminates against white people. Like Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, I hope that affirmative action will one day no longer be needed. However, there is much to be done before that day arrives.
To begin with, the Times and other publications recently reported on a study that showed that teachers in Florida schools in lower-income areas, or schools where the majority of the students are minorities, generally have less experience than teachers who work in more affluent or predominantly white schools. Further, teachers in schools with mostly minority students tend to be more likely not to be certified to teach the subjects they are teaching. My inclusion of the results of these studies is not to criticize the teachers; they have a most difficult job. However, anyone should be able to draw from these facts that minority students may not have an equal chance at receiving a quality education.
The amazing thing is that some of these minority students will still strive to succeed and will earn good grades. Yet, some would deny them the opportunity to be admitted to the top schools because of a simple number - an SAT score. Just as these students have worked hard and succeeded through high school, they can do the same in college. Sure, some of them will fail, and so will some white students. But, to deny them the opportunity to succeed is simply not fair and is, in fact, discriminatory. Those who say the answer is to improve the schools are willing to consign present students to inferiority until the schools are improved. I doubt that they would be so patient, were their own children in those schools. Second, although everyone should know by now that preferential treatment is accorded to any number of applicants, including those who are related to alumni, and even those who have athletic talent, the people who oppose affirmative action seem to have no problem with any kind of preferential treatment except that which deals with race. Race-based problems require race-based solutions; they can't be solved any other way.
Finally, every white student who has sued a university because he or she was not admitted, while a minority student with a lower test score was admitted, knows, or could very easily have found out, that there were also white students admitted with lower test scores. Any situation that allows white students who are not admitted to sue only when minority students with lower grades are admitted, but not when white students with lower grades are admitted is discriminatory against the minority students.
When people talk about a level playing field and race-neutral policies, honesty demands that we recognize that we have a way to go before we reach those goals for all of us.
-- Robert A. Monroe, Tampa
The rich owe much to many
Re: Debate based on envy, letter, June 23.
It's wrong to say the workers and poor envy the rich, because they'd like to become rich, too. However, it's a fallacy that a wealthy person is a "self-made" millionaire. There are three segments of a society that make a person rich:
The government. The Army and police protect the rich. The government educates workers for the rich, provides patent and copyright protection, builds highways, bridges, airport and train services to get their products to market. It furnishes free export marketing and banking facilities with loan guarantees, provides huge loopholes so few of the wealthy pay much of their surplus profits in taxes, and much more. The rich owe thanks to the government and should pay higher taxes to facilitate the government's efforts.
The workers in the companies owned by the rich provide the talent and the sweat that made the wealthy rich. Thus, the rich have a responsibility to help them when they get too old to work, and have problems with health and other things. After all, they made the rich wealthy.
The third segment of society that made the rich wealthy is the vast multitude of people who spent their hard-earned money to buy the rich's service/product, by paying enough to allow a high profit margin to make them rich indeed!
These millions of folks noted above directly made each rich person wealthy, so the rich have a responsibility to help care for them through government programs, which are the best way to help the people evenly and equitably. President Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy, bringing the longest, strongest prosperity in history! President George W. Bush and Gov. Jeb Bush both are a scourge on our nation with their insistence on making the rich richer on the backs of those who made them rich.
-- R. Dimond, Largo
Be honest about tax credits
I would wish the editors at the St. Petersburg Times would stop pushing the lie that low income families are being denied a tax credit, as portrayed in Paul Szep's June 22 editorial cartoon.
As a person who has prepared tax returns for some 20 years I can tell you that in order to get a tax credit you need to have a taxable income, and since most low income people do not qualify, they don't get the credit. But they do get an Earned Income Credit, and in most cases an additional child tax credit, and with any withholding taxes from their W-2, these families get a nice size refund back from the government. I've seen some families get back as much as $5,000! So stop pushing a lie on your readers.
-- Peter Stathis, Spring Hill
Greed may be the more apt sin
Re: Debate based on envy, letter.
Since the letter writer obviously received some religious instruction, one can only assume he was taught, but has forgotten, Matthew 25:31-46. The important part is here:
"For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in; I needed clothes and you did not clothe me; I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.
"They also will answer, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
I don't see any way, in a religious context, that the letter writer can justify his position. Envy has nothing to do with it. Greed "is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called avarice or covetousness" and is perhaps one of the seven deadly sins most appropriately used here.
-- Saundra Curry, Clearwater
Fairness toward working Americans
Re: Politicians, pay attention, June 18, and For a living wage, June 23, letters.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, wages of the poorest 20 percent of Americans grew 117 percent between 1947 and 1973. Between 1973 and 1996, the wages of this population declined by 9 percent, despite widespread growth. Our gross domestic product (adjusted for inflation) is three times its level in the 1950s.
"These figures suggest that the problem of poverty wages is not one of a lack of resources, but of basic equality," states the ACORN National Living Wage Resource Center.
Generally, the cost associated with implementing a living wage ordinance is offset by the surplus in social services budgets. Therefore, living wage legislation is not only socially progressive, but also fiscally conservative.
The federal government has abandoned any sense of responsibility or fairness toward working Americans. It is up to us to address this issue on a local level.
-- Judy Robinson, St. Petersburg
Interest cuts can hurt
Alan Greenspan, in his continuing fervor to slash interest rates again and again, has dried up hundreds of millions of dollars that used to be circulating through the economy.
Millions of people, especially retirees, have money invested in CDs, and many use their interest for living expenses. Greenspan has gotten the current interest rates so low that a paltry return of less than 2 percent on a one-year $100,000 CD won't even come close to paying the average yearly utility bills.
Interest rates on CDs are now what they were during the Depression, when you could buy a new car for $600 and a new house for $2,000. If rates are lowered much more, people will have the dubious honor of paying the banks for the privilege of investing their money with them.
Why the Fed can't see what it is doing is hurting the economy, not helping it, is truly amazing.
-- Richard Preston, St. Petersburg
Grateful for fireworks ordinance
Re: Fireworks sellers face last kaboom, June 25.
Pinellas County Commissioner Kenneth Welch deserves thanks for all his efforts and support on this matter. We all know that this is a small victory for now. The true battle will be enforcement. Hopefully all the municipalities within Pinellas County will do their part and support this issue and we will see a positive affect soon.
-- Casimiro V. Rael Sr., St. Petersburg
When the fighting goes too far
Re: Toughman tragedy, June 27.
Stacy Young's opponent should be charged with murder, and the referee in charge of this fight should be charged with being an accessory to murder.
There should always be an out in a situation like this. I personally believe that the Toughman fighting is a foolish choice for someone to make, but I will defend a person's right to make such a foolish decision. However, there needs to be a way for that person to leave the match. It is not acceptable for someone to continue beating on another human being, killing her - especially if she is obviously trying to end the match and concede defeat.
If this ridiculous sport is to continue, it needs to be regulated, with accountability procedures and rules of engagement in place. There need to be medical staff on standby. Law enforcement should also be involved.
Shame on the referee who allows a fight to continue when the participant clearly knows she can't go on and wants to stop the madness. Double shame on anyone who will continue beating on someone in such a situation.
-- Georgine Johns, Largo
What century are we in?
In the last several weeks, the St. Petersburg Times has carried stories on cock-fighting, mud-bogging and "amateur" boxing.
I am by now used to reading articles about the Middle East, which have convinced me, for the most part, the people there are still living in the 5th century.
Due to the above-noted stories, I wonder, with reference to civilization vs. barbarism, whether we have progressed past the 15th?
-- Randi T. Rosmarin-Varrone, Spring Hill
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