PERSPECTIVES: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: SOME REASONABLE RESPONSES; YES, THERE ARE ABUSES IN ANY GOVERNMENT PROGRAM, BUT COZAD MISREPRESENTS THEM

It was very discouraging to read the long article in your Aug. 7 paper claiming affirmative action is immoral, excerpts of a talk to Cape Girardeau's Chamber of Commerce by Kansas City attorney John Cozad.

No one disputes some abuses have occurred with this program, just as there always are with any government program, (or any program by private business). But whenever any attempt to is made to correct social injustice, opponents always try to throw out the baby with the bath water, rather than fix it.

Cozad does a good job of mis-representing affirmative action, but that isn't his main problem. He tries to create a conundrum around this issue, but it fails to hide the real problem: Racism is still with us, and that is what affirmative action addresses.

He states for a six-year period (prior to affirmative action) "non-discrimination was the law of our land." That is the problem: we have had the law without the compliance, especially compliance of the heart and mind. And if Cozad thinks six years was a brief "shining moment" (free of racism), he needs to talk to some black Americans!

Here is the problem: We cannot legislate morality, and it is very difficult to even legislate social justice. It would be so much easier if we just admitted that our history makes it impossible for us not to be racists -- all of us -- and then just go about the business of education it.

The primary problem with Cozad's whole thesis is that he only takes up the issue after affirmative action. Then he begins to talk about character and conduct. But bias, prejudice and bigotry begin impacting minorities before they are even born, which greatly affects their formative years and continues to affect them the rest of their lives. It is that environment that molds their character and conduct.

Cozad uses old, disproven arguments about how other races have succeeded in America, but he fails to address real racism. For example, why do we more readily accept interracial marriages when blacks aren't involved?

No, all governmental programs set up to combat racism haven't worked well. But we need to keep focused on the issue of racism itself and quit denying it. I personally don't feel we will ever conquer this evil until we address the most segregated hour in America: 11 o'clock on Sunday morning. When the church truly addresses the root of the problem -- our hearts -- then we can begin to dismantle governmental programs.

Howard D. Meek is a job recruiter for the insurance industry who resides in Nashville. He read Cozad's article while attending his wife's high school reunion in Kelso.