They Huey P. Newton Reader

a irmative action in theor and ractice 333
tion before the Supreme Court on this basis, lest the inevitable answer
make folly of our pathetic lot.
I humbly request your response.
All Power to the People,
Huey P. Newton
President
Black Panther Party
To: Mr. William Coblentz, Chairman
The Board of Regents of the University of California
Dear Mr. Coblentz:
I write to urge immediate consideration by the University of California
toward administering the special admissions program at the
medical school of the Davis Campus in a manner consistent with the
program's stated purposes and thereby, hopefully, avoiding an opinion
in the Bakke case now pending before the Supreme Court. I make
this request after thoroughly reviewing the opinion of the California
Supreme Court and the briefs filed with the United States
Supreme Court, as well as after talking with many people concerned
about the implications of a ruling either way in the Bakke case. It is
my conclusion, for reasons I will explain, that the issue posed by the
Bakke case-that is, the constitutionality of preferential racial quotas-is
unnecessary and bitterly divisive to the university and the
country at this time.
The twofold purpose of the special admissions program at the Davis
medical school is, according to the University, (1) to equalize the
opportunity for "educationally or economically disadvantaged" students
to obtain a medical education, and (2) to increase the number
of doctors who will practice in medically underserved areas. The first
goal can be achieved without regard to race, even though a disproportionate
number of educationally or economically disadvantaged
applicants for medical school are likely to be nonwhite racial minorities.
But it is beyond dispute that poor whites, whether they be migrant