by Allan J. Favish

[This letter to the editor was first published in the Los Angeles Daily News on September 12, 1996, p. 24. The letter was in response to opponents of Proposition 209 (aka the CCRI) at California State University, Northridge, inviting David Duke to defend the initiative at a debate. An edited version of the letter was then published in the Weekly Standard, a national news magazine, in the September 30, 1996 issue.]

Opponents of Proposition 209, which will make state-sponsored racial preferences illegal, invited David Duke to California State University, Northridge, because they know that Duke's advocacy of the anti-racial preference principle is a sham; Duke really believes in racial preferences, but for whites.

Therefore, Prop. 209 opponents have more in common with Duke than they care to admit: Both are in favor of subordinating the merit principle to the extent necessary to achieve their desired racial outcomes in academia and the work force. Their only significant difference is the color of the finished product--white or rainbow.

In contrast, supporters of Prop. 209 don't care about the color as long as the state chooses the best qualified person from a fairly assembled applicant pool.