In “Justice to probe schools’ ‘anti-white bias’ ” (Page A3, Aug. 3), Jeff Sessions, then U.S. senator and now attorney general, is quoted as having said in 2009 (at the beginning of the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Sonia Sotomayor): “Empathy for one party is always prejudice against another.” And so it appears to be, in this era of obstruction, retaliation and bull-headed partisanship – but that should not and need not be so.

A simple solution to the school issue could easily be accomplished by first ranking all applicants – numbered, but without names or racial tags, simply according to academic merit. Then pool these rated applications according to race, and finally, select, by lottery, from each racial group, according to the percentages of each in the general population.

Bias and prejudice are commonplace but should have no place in our society. Let’s try some critical thinking – and then do all we can to remove Jeff Sessions’ “always.”

Carole Sargent

Brunswick


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