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June 24, 2003
Acting affirmativly
The action has been at least partially affirmed. While I have not read the opinion of the court, I have read the opinion of many a blogger, and sometimes that can add up to the same thing. Anyway, my opinion has been asked for; that motion shall be granted. I think affirmative action can be useful...
Not to say that everyone agrees with me. Dean, for instance has a different opinion from me. I think his opinion comes from the right place, but ends up somewhere I'd rather not be. We'll get to that in a moment...
On the other hand, the Talking Dog has a similar enough opinion to my own that it might be worth reading in lieu of my own. I think that the Talking dog may well be seeing the world a bit more clearly...
I do have a bit of experience with this subject first hand, as it were. When I was growing up, my father married a woman whose first husband was a black man. As a result of that, I ended up with a pair of African-American sisters. The relevant bit is that one of those sisters and I ended up with nearly identical (and rather decent) PSAT scores. She was lauded and mine were ignored. The only real difference between us was our skin color. We were nearly identical in: outside appearance, socio-economical situation, we shared the same parents(!); yet she had more opportunity based on her skin color alone. I will agree with anyone who says that this is an injustice...
Yet I will disagree with anyone who says that this makes the whole system wrong. There are individual blips along the way, yet there is a reason we have affirmative action, and race-based preferences. The reason is simple: African-American citizens make up approximately 13% of our population, yet are disproportionably represented in the bad categories, and disproportionately underrepresented in the good. If we say at the beginning that race is not an indicator of anything other than our own prejudices (as I most certainly do), then we must be doing something wrong...
It also means that, by and large, African-Americans must struggle harder just to stay at the same place. If one kid starts out middle class and ends up rich, he has achieved something. If another kid starts out poor and ends up rich, he has achieved more. Society should recognize which is the greater achievement, and reward that person accordingly. If a child who went to bad schools gets the same scores as a child who went to good ones, that child should be treated as though that is harder to achieve. Since African-Americans tend to end up in worse schools...
Then there are, as the TD points out, bonuses for children of Alumni's. Is this really what we want? Should we really be giving bonuses to children who had an easier time than to children who had it harder? That doesn't seem like it rewards achievement...
And that is how it breaks down for me. Race is a clumsy tool, and I would like to see a better one used. But it is a tool, and until it is replaced it needs to be used...
Posted by Andrew at June 24, 2003 01:53 PM
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Comments
Discrimination is okay as long as it's done in equal proportion to the population is what you're saying.
And let us be clear: a millionaire black man's child deserves the special considerations that my child does not. You think this is so because there is no other way to fix the "injustices."
Will you tell me how long you wish to discriminate against my son, and how long the children of Colin Powell get favoritism? Will it extend another 40 years? Another 80? Another 400?
Will you ever consider the possibility that the real cause of the problems you cite may not be racism? May in fact be aggravated by the solution you advocate?
And when will you tell the children of poor inner city Arab, Asian, Indian, hispanic, and of course, white children (who make up a majority of the poor and uneducated, by the way) that they no longer have to give these special priviledges to their neighbors? It has been almost 40 years since the Civil Rights Act made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, or national origin, Andrew. So when will you say enough is enough?
Posted by: Dean Esmay at June 24, 2003 09:26 PM