Brian Gillot clearly showed his misunderstanding of freedom in his Letter to the editor. Mr. Gillot asserts that "freedom does not come at the expense of another," and his free speech cannot restrict anyone else's. Oh really?

The First Amendment was written by white men to protect something they already had. No women, blacks, Hispanics or open homosexuals had any say in the drafting of the Constitution; yet Mr. Gillot says that to help these people finally be heard now is a type of "safety in conflict with freedom," and something our founding fathers knew from the start. Well this is a touching sentiment coming from men who owned slaves as well as women. I guess freedom always looks pretty good on paper, just not at home.

This is exactly why society needs to take action. Are people who have been silenced all their lives, called niggers, bitches, fags and good-for-nothing spics really free to express their own ideas? Do they even know they have the right to have their own ideas? Imagine telling people who have been kept from books all their life, "OK, now you can read." Does that make them equal?

You really missed the point of Mr. Demangone's column if you think the goal of affirmative action is to keep kids from "hearing the nasty word." It is unfortunate we can't just erase all the hate, discrimination and oppression as you seem to think we can.

I agree with Mr. Demangone that affirmative action is not a perfect solution. I think we should do even more. Until we stop allowing hatred and ignorance to hide behind a warped definition of freedom, affirmative action helps move us closer to equality.