Mr. Schwartz misses one simple

reality, and draws an erroneous assumption as a result. He assumes that

the desire to bring people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds

for the sake of broadening the perspectives represented in a social space

are rooted in a belief in biologically determined, racially distinct behavior.

Rightly rejecting the notion that biology determines thought, he wrongly

rejects the notion that race corresponds to thought.

To the contrary, race is a

complex phenomenon. The biological nature of race truly is skin deep as

scientists have decided to confirm (as compared to two centuries ago,

when scientists confirmed the biological basis of behavior). However,

because so many facets of peoples' lives have been strongly influenced

life experiences often correspond to what we call race. And as a result,

distinct perspectives often correspond to what we call race.

I completely agree with Mr.

Schwartz that one "black" person in the classroom is not going

to adequately represent everyone in the world who is of African descent.

Because there is so much variation within what people call "the black

community," you actually need many "black" people in that

classroom, and you need to ensure that they represent different walks

of black life. This is crucial to note because there are many ways of

being black that are very similar to many ways of being white.

To adequately deal with today's

racial situation, one's mind must think in terms of probabilities and

tendencies, not absolute universals. There are many things about my experiences

in life, and my corresponding interpretations of those experiences, that

make me more distinct from most "white people" that I meet and

less distinct from most "black" people that I meet.

You must appreciate that we

have degrees of similarity and degrees of difference that often are influenced

through are strongly influenced by the social categories that we put ourselves

into and that others put us in, not just in the present, but over generations.

I hope that the author, and

others, can benefit from my "different" perspective.

Mark A. King

[email protected]