Blogger, Indra Maghaven (An obscure war god? Really?) wrote;"Name me one black group or politician who is calling for an end to AA (Affirmative-Action)?
Name just one!"
A Houston Chronicle story entitled; Obama Opposes Reparations (no author credited) quotes Barack Obama as saying;
"I have said in the past - and I'll repeat it again - that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed."
USA Today op/ed contributor Yolanda Young quotes Barack Obama stating the following in a late July Q&A entitled; Obama's Fumble On Affirmative Action."Affirmative action is not going to be the long-term solution to the problems of race in America because, frankly, if you've got 50% of African-American or Latino kids dropping out of high school, it doesn't really matter what you do in terms of affirmative action.
These kids are not getting into college."
@ Indra - Is this ONE big enough for you?
(Also read; When Affirmative Action Was White - Ira Katznelson or the piece on The Root http://www.theroot.com/views/reparations-bailout that compares reparations to a bailout of the Freedman's Savings Bank)
IMO - those apologies are as virga - having more affect than effect.
6 comments:
John, in the debate over Affirmative Action it is often characterized in racial terms, solely. Yet the most reliable data on the subject notes that white women, and by extention, their families, are, largely, the single group to have benefitted the most from these set-aside programs. John, why is Affirmative Action good for them, white women, to name a group, but bad for us Black folks?
FINALLY, I'M CURIOUS AS TO YOUR IMPRESSION OF WOMEN ONLY TITLE IX PROGRAMS IN COLLEGE SPORTS?
I have long been a proponent of Reparations. I think we are owed something for our work... pure and simple. And if you owed my dad, and he died before he got his check, then you owe me. But to me, reparations are to repair past slights, not prepare for future ones. That Dave Chapelle skit was crazy, but unfortunately I know alot of folks who would act like the folks in the skit and not the article. Some even said they would. Obama is right that building up schools and community infrastructures would do greater long term good than cash in hand. Just like after emancipation folks didn't know how to be free, and much of the benefits of our freedom ended up in White Hands, We as a people don't know how to be rich, and we need to learn how so we don't give up the benefits of our money the same way.
Having said that, is someone offered me my share of the $900 billion, I wouldn't say no.
@ GDAWG - Title IX ? I think it over-stepped it's intended bounds. Many money making men's programs were cut in favor of money losers.
As far as AA - as longs as it encourages fair opportunities for QUALIFIED applicants, I see no problem.
Take College Football;
Why do so many blue-chip athletes go to schools who fail to hire Black coaches?
If these athletes went to rival schools who'd hired Black coaches, the other schools would change in order to compete.
Many of us already have more power than we are willing to exercise.
@ Dwayne T - I'm not saying that they (Reparations) are not due. But that it will not happen.
I don't see the point of focussing on an issue that seems to distract from any good that can actually be brought to fruition.
I can name one - Ward Connerly. A Black dude, whom I believe was/is on the Board of Regents for the UC system, single handedly eliminated affirmative action from the California University system, subsequently Minority enrollment plummeted resulting in even more uneducated minorities, which will, of course, make society much better? I agree with UBJ. Affirmative Action, really only mandates an expansion of the applicant pool, not quotas. Some individual organizations choose to establish benchmarks or quotas, but this was not really the explicit intent of Affirmative Action. In a society where opportunities are largely predicated on who you know, and where most of us are still segregated along socio/economic and racial lines, in terms of where we live, where we go to school, and who we know, Affirmative Action is not really as bad a thing as people want to make it out to be, as long as a qualified applicant is selected at the end of the day.
AA is no threat to White folks, just a specious argument to try to scape goat minorities because their socio/economic dominance, through natural evolution, is ever so slowly decreasing as the world and this country change.
Which came first the chicken or the egg...
The schools need to be repaired, the teachers need to teach, the students need to learn.
The crime needs to stop, the streets need to be made safe, the worries need to be relieved.
The dealers, haters, gangs and killers need to leave our kids alone.
Our kids need to be exposed to more than cement and garbage.
They need to eat better, get fresh air, see the country, experience life, turn off the tv.
How can our kids learn anything when faced with what the inner-city brings?
By high school, many of them have kids of their own. The cycle keeps going round and round.
I think AA should continue but be based on district, test scores, and other environmental and educational factors not on race or gender.
As for repirations.. What do you do with the 25 - 30% of "white" Americans that have African ancestors. Suddenly everyone will be getting DNA tests done!
So Obama is against reparations and downtalks AA. That is good, but he is not against AA. I heard him in the Democratic debates talking around the issue. Of course, he knows it's wrong, and talks about all kinds of ways to make it better, but he's still for it.
You obviously have some intelligent readers, because most of the comments seem to be against AA. However, DPizz perfectly captures the hypocrisy involved, claiming it does not really hurt Whites. Who does he think he's kidding?
Let's apply the logic of AA to a black-dominated arena, such as sports scholarships. Whites are statistically under-represented in those arenas, so why not establish a program to bring numbers back in line with target populations, ala AA. So more Whites start getting athletic scholarships, are you telling me that doesn't adversely impact the blacks who did NOT get those scholarships?
And if you think AA results in the best-qualified getting the position, you are lacking knowledge of how it works. Lower minority representation is evidence in a court of law of discrimination. Of course there is no quota, as in a hard number, but there is a numerical percentage that must be met or you will come up against a lawsuit!
So, only 4% of college coaches are black? And you assume that is discrimination, don't you? Aha! See, that is the logic of AA. You either meet the percentage, or it is assumed you are discriminating, and you will get sued.
You "educated" Blacks love AA, since it is YOU who are benefiting. It is certainly not your dumb HS drop out cousin who is benefiting, as Obama himself put it.
And I said name one black GROUP against AA. Yes, there are prominent black individuals against it, such as the intellectual giant Thomas Sowell and the Supreme Justice Clarence Thomas, but I am asking for a GROUP.
Thank you for addressing the issue, sir. I do enjoy reading your blog.
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