Discrimination and Racial Quotas

Terry Eastland’s article “It’s Ebb Tide for Quotas as Lobby Declines” (Column Right, April 25) used quite twisted logic to deem it immoral for civil rights activists to work with business leaders to strengthen incentives for employers to comply with anti-discrimination laws. To call it a “conspiracy to trade away the rights of those (smaller businesses) not at the talks” was truly a stretch of the imagination.

In the first place, it’s hard to believe that anyone can refer to a meeting with 65 CEOs as “secret talks.” Secondly, working with business to fight discrimination in the workplace can scarcely be described as a civil rights violation. Finally, the statement that smaller businesses can “less afford the transaction costs of racial preference” implies 1) women and minorities don’t contribute to business and 2) the requirement to employ them merely places undue burden on business. The pervasiveness of this attitude only accentuates the need to work harder against discrimination in the workplace.

D. STEWART, Huntington Beach