In the March 11 issue of Sports Illustrated, former basketball star Charles Barkley is quoted as having said, "Sports are a detriment to blacks, not a positive." He refers to the United States's society as a place where African-American children think the only way to become successful is through athletics. This statement may sound extreme, but it makes me wonder just how far our society has really come since the birth of our country.

Our nation is often referred to as a melting pot of cultures and people, yet equal opportunity has seldom been included as a part of this idea. In the early years, Englishmen were the elite class while other immigrants were kept below them or even enslaved. Women and slaves were not listened to seriously, were not permitted to vote, and were not allowed to own land for many years. The civil movements of women and African Americans helped gain more power for these groups, but we are still a nation that seems to wanting to keep a division among ourselves.

We seem to feel that minority groups require special rules and help. Colleges and employers are told that they must accept or employ a percentage of people from these groups, and scholarship guidelines are often set to help the minorities. How can we truly become a nation of equal opportunities if our rules and guidelines keep expressing the ideas that people of our society are still inept at succeeding? We need to listen to the statements of someone like Charles Barkley and realize that our rules and regulations may be portraying an image of inferiority rather than creating equality.