On background

In his article of 10/7/21, Sean Cotter writes, “Wu … is of Asian descent, and fellow City Councilor Annissa Essaibi George … is the child of parents from Tunisia and Poland.” In the same issue, Joyce Bolling says, “We also need to fix Madison Park High School and hire more teachers of color,” and “Kudos to federal judge William Young, who backed bringing more diversity to Boston Latin School.”

My response to each of these statements is, “Who cares??” Why should a person’s gender, racial, ethnic or religious background have the slightest impact on whether or not they are elected, hired or admitted to any position or school? Doing so is a textbook definition of racism.

In the mad rush for “diversity,” we are recreating damaging criteria which were on the way out. We are sacrificing the only fair and objective yardstick upon which choices should exclusively be made: MERIT. If, for example, a particular group is under represented at an elite exam school, admitting underqualified applicants from said group is not a sane solution. It can only lead to the deterioration of that school’s high standards, which helps no one.

As for Wu and Essaibi George, voters should only be concerned about their qualifications for the mayor’s office, and not where their parents or grandparents were born, the color of their skin or the God to whom they may pray.

— Keevin Geller, Sharon