To the Editor:

Just as calling the product of well fed bull’s bottoms “meadow muffins” will not change what that product truly is, so does calling racial discrimination by another name, say “equity,” not change the nature of the underlying discrimination.

That the state of New York has given racial preferences to certain business owners, at the expense of a level playing field for all potential marijuana retail business owners, is an injustice.

To understand, consider New York’s preference for retailers of a preferred race, and change the race to another. The injustice instantly becomes clear. Equal opportunity should not mean a “more” equal opportunity for some of the momentarily preferred race.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, as many a parent has told an angry little one.

Edgar Tolmie

Altamont
Editor’s note: Matthew Pinchinat, when he was newly named director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for the Guilderland schools, in 2021, told The Enterprise that ‘equity’ doesn’t mean everyone gets the exact same thing, describing an image where three people are trying to look over a solid fence to see a ball game. If they all were given equal crates to stand on, one person would be towering over the fence, a second would be at just the right height, and the third still couldn’t see over. Rather, Pinchinat said, giving each what he needs would be equity.