Dave Makower of Tarrytown, NY asks:

My "question": In light of the existence of systemic racism in the fabric of our society, what practical alternatives are there to affirmative action as it is currently conceived and practiced? If we take away affirmative action (flawed though it may be) then what else have we got?

Angela Oh responds:

You ask a difficult question.  I believe that affirmative action is an important tool that has made it possible for us to find qualified individuals to take advantage of opportunities that hold the hope for improving individual and societal circumstances.  In addition to that tool, I am a believer in mentoring programs for both the employment and educational settings.  We have identified among some of our Promising Practices some very fine projects that are essentially mentoring models that have opened opportunities up for deserving individuals.

Governor William Winter responds:

There is nothing wrong with the basic concept of affirmative action. We have always recognized and practiced it in some form. The problem is that it has been too negatively defined in terms of quotas and racial preferences based on elements like test scores and thus has been reduced to a numbers game. No one that I know seriously argues about the educational and economic inequities that lead to a lot of people getting left out. There thus remains the very obvious problem of how we structure a system that, without penalizing the privileged and affluent, will permit effective access by those less fortunate of whatever race or background. If racial diversity and equity in the schoolroom and the workplace is to be considered important per se, and I think it must be, we must broaden the concept of affirmative action to take into account the subjective and circumstantial factors that will preempt the single consideration of race in this process. This must also be accompanied by an increased commitment to improve the educational and social conditions that automatically limit opportunity for so many black children. [Next question]