Chicago Results

To the Editors of the Crimson:

The invectives and illogic unleashed during the Epton-Washington contest for mayor of Chicago were almost without end but none is more in need of a response than the convenient "cop-out" which was usually stated as "My family only recently migrated to this country, hence I'm not responsible for the condition of blacks."

That much-eaten myopia seems to strggest that societal benefit, responsibility or blame can only result from direct individual involvement. If that is indeed what was intended by those who professed to "bear no blame" then they should expand the argument beyond affirmative action and political turf.

If we are to exclude from responsibility those persons who weren't directly involved or don't descend from persons who were involved in slavery and racial segregation, shouldn't they also be excluded from the more benign developments in which they weren't involved? I wonder if they would like to be excluded from the pure food laws, the child labor laws, the public schools, collective bargaining. Social Security, etc.? David L. Evans   Evans is Harvard's Senior Admissions Officer.