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Jan. 17th, 2003 12:11 amThe Hours was great.
Jan. 17th, 2003
Attacks on AA
Jan. 17th, 2003 03:53 pmI don't usually say things like this, but Bush can kiss my black ass.
As president, he has no right sticking his nose in this issue. It's the province of the Supreme Court. Now, I have no problem with him telling the Justice Department to be ready for a fight. He has every right to direct the JD. But his statement was, in my opinion, an abuse of his office. He used his position and the fact that he commands television and other media time in order to make his own personal opinions known. What do they call that, the bully pulpit?
Secondly, as an affluent white male, he really has no idea what it means to actually need affirmative action programs. I don't say this to be racist. I'm saying that he's ignoring the social complex, the matrix, of race and poverty. Those usually go hand in hand in this country, unfortunately, and education is the best way to lift people out of that poverty. Yes, I'm a liberal; yes, I believe that education is the best way to "level the playing field". As Kwame Kilpatrick said yesterday, in order to do that, there has to be some deliberate shifting of considerations.
I don't support "quota programs" myself. But quotas and point systems--if I'm understanding them correctly--are not the same thing. A quota is, "We need 100 blacks, 50 Hispanics, 20 Native Americans, and 10 international students." They are hard and fast requirements. I completely disagree with that. Under that system, yes, whites have a distinct disadvantage, because there are only so many available spots at a given college, and someone necessarily has to be displaced to keep such spots open. That kind of affirmative action is awful and should be resisted.
All college applications need to be screened with some sort of discrimination in mind. We just happen to have approved types of discrimination: grades, test scores, athletic ability, alumni affliations. None of these are specifically supported by the Constitution; we as a whole have simply consented to these criteria, because we see the benefit of judging by them.
To say that affirmative action is no longer needed in this country is to be blind to the naked facts that confront us every day. People who live in the suburbs or who have a substantial bank account can ignore the grit of reality that the majority of this country has to deal with. Bush is certainly in that group. And the fact that he trots out blacks such as Thomas and Rice, who are first and foremost Republicans, to agree with his position really infuriates me. "Here are my token minorities, reflecting my opinion! See, it must be right!"
As president, he has no right sticking his nose in this issue. It's the province of the Supreme Court. Now, I have no problem with him telling the Justice Department to be ready for a fight. He has every right to direct the JD. But his statement was, in my opinion, an abuse of his office. He used his position and the fact that he commands television and other media time in order to make his own personal opinions known. What do they call that, the bully pulpit?
Secondly, as an affluent white male, he really has no idea what it means to actually need affirmative action programs. I don't say this to be racist. I'm saying that he's ignoring the social complex, the matrix, of race and poverty. Those usually go hand in hand in this country, unfortunately, and education is the best way to lift people out of that poverty. Yes, I'm a liberal; yes, I believe that education is the best way to "level the playing field". As Kwame Kilpatrick said yesterday, in order to do that, there has to be some deliberate shifting of considerations.
I don't support "quota programs" myself. But quotas and point systems--if I'm understanding them correctly--are not the same thing. A quota is, "We need 100 blacks, 50 Hispanics, 20 Native Americans, and 10 international students." They are hard and fast requirements. I completely disagree with that. Under that system, yes, whites have a distinct disadvantage, because there are only so many available spots at a given college, and someone necessarily has to be displaced to keep such spots open. That kind of affirmative action is awful and should be resisted.
All college applications need to be screened with some sort of discrimination in mind. We just happen to have approved types of discrimination: grades, test scores, athletic ability, alumni affliations. None of these are specifically supported by the Constitution; we as a whole have simply consented to these criteria, because we see the benefit of judging by them.
To say that affirmative action is no longer needed in this country is to be blind to the naked facts that confront us every day. People who live in the suburbs or who have a substantial bank account can ignore the grit of reality that the majority of this country has to deal with. Bush is certainly in that group. And the fact that he trots out blacks such as Thomas and Rice, who are first and foremost Republicans, to agree with his position really infuriates me. "Here are my token minorities, reflecting my opinion! See, it must be right!"