Sofen also thinks that this "New South," as he calls it, is so much better off just because there are black mayors in many of the cities and towns. Like most of the country today, Sofen measures progress by percentages of racial minorities in prominent positions. He looks at black men and women as numbers and not people.
Instead of inferring that race relations are better because there are black mayors, Sofen should infer that the men occupying the mayor's office must have had ideas which the citizens of the city favored. By immediately drawing racial conclusions from his observation, Sofen puts the spotlight back on the unfruitful discussion of race.
I encourage Sofen not to tarnish the image of almighty Harvard any further with his liberal hogwash.
S. Calvin Thigpen
University, Miss., July 12
The writer is a student at the University of Mississippi.