Supreme Court on Civil Rights
As a retired college professor, who proudly participated in “the struggle to redeem us all from the dishonor of 200 years of racial (and ethnic) oppression,” I salute The Times for standing up for equal opportunity for women and minorities.
Happily, The Times does not throw out the “baby with the bathwater” by condemning all judicial activism. The court, like other branches of government, is not infallible. Surely the Dred Scott decision and the court’s notorious “equal but separate” endorsement of school segregation show the court’s ample capacity for error. But subsequent decisions also demonstrate the courage of wise justices to reverse previous errors!
Let’s hope the day is not far off when the court will realize that it took two “giant steps backward” when it struck down the apportionment of public works contracts to women and minorities, and then weakened the defenses of the same struggling people against discrimination!
WILLIAM H. HENSEY JR.
City of Commerce
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