Re: "Playing field isn't level for blacks in workforce," Feb. 5 letter.

First thing's first, I'm white. Now you can either assume this automatically makes me a racist, or you can listen to what I have to say and flip the coin of affirmative action.

Secondly, I would like to apply a little math to the statistics provided (who knows where the author's stats come from, but for the sake of argument). He says that 45 percent of black children live in poverty and only 16 percent of white children are below the same line. This would appear that more black children are at a disadvantage and need a helping hand. From my source, the 2000 US Census, there are 41 million white children between the ages of five and 17 and 8.4 million black children.

If the percentages provided by the author are applied, then about 6.5 white children live below the poverty line and 3.7 million black children. I understand the point of the statistic but the numbers would show that more white children are at a disadvantage.

Thirdly, the authors would probably further argue that employers don't treat black candidates the same as white, and that would be considered racist and affirmative action is the only way to stop this. I guess it is OK to not hire someone because they are white and the company's "quota" is full, and that this does not constitute racism. We will assume that the potential hiree is not one of those 6.5 million poor white children and didn't work as hard as anyone else to get where he did. Affirmative action is a double-edged sword, one should always be mindful of who they are slicing.