December 7, 2007

Racism Today and Yesterday

To the Editor:

Troy Duster contends in "How to Read a Noose" (The Chronicle Review, November 9) that it is by opposing affirmative action and supporting the private sector that white privilege is perpetuated. Thus, his premise is that black people will never be able to compete with white people in education or in the marketplace unless they (African-Americans) are given special preferences.

I might observe how surprising it is that a professor of sociology at Berkeley would hold