Clegg v. Shaw: Affirmative Action Debate
WASHINGTON, D.C.
The debate over whether racial diversity can be a “compelling interest” to justify the use of race in public school admissions will come to an end this week when the U.S. Supreme Court rules in two cases on voluntary desegregation.http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_7820.shtml
June 27th, 2007 at 2:43 pm
It is disheartening to me that we white people are still putting up barriers to real equity in the U.S. by dismantling affirmative action and doing it in the name of justice. We have blinded ourselves to the how white supremacy benefits us and we’ll do everything we can to keep it that way. We should at least be honest about what we’re doing! I am outraged!
June 27th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Disparate treatment based on race, and viewing schoolchildren based on the immutable characteristic of race/ethnicity could not possibly have been the intent of Brown or the true civil rights movement. That interpretation is as grotesque as it is absurd.
Virtually every single study done on the effect of what was intended even by its proponents to be a time-limited program has shown pretty conclusively that the beneficiaries of racial preference programs are invariably the wealthy of the preferred classes (at this point, blacks, hispanics, native americans) while the burden falls disproportionately on the poor of the non-preferred classes (whites and Asians). Wealthy whites and Asians are not generally significantly burdened as their wealth and family connections grants access to financially-enabled alternatives to achieving success. In fact, wealthy whites and Asians benefit from being able to feel good about themselves for supporting skin-deep diversity. Benefitting the rich while hurting the poor–it’s a truly ironic and morally bankrupt outcome.
Robert (and all presumably well-meaning Caucasians and Asian Americans) who believe that racial preferences in school admissions, contracting, employment etc. is the best solution to remedy racial injustice, I invite, no I CHALLENGE you all to demonstrate exactly how much racial justice means to you personally by giving up your spot at a college you (or your children) are admitted to for one at a lower-tier school, by giving up your job, your right to compete on strictly equal terms and conditions, to a member of a racial minority. Heck, just to save some time and trouble, give ME your money. I still won’t agree with the principle that equal opportunity requires equal results based on race, but I think I’d respect your personal integrity and principle more.
Until you have personally experienced the need to work twice as hard or achieve twice as much to attain the same outcome, or have voluntarily taken the silver spoon you were born with out of your mouth (or any other orifice it is in) and given it to another, your expression of outrage lacks moral standing and your words and sentiment could at most charitably be viewed as ignorant or attributed to immaturity. Again, even if you are willing to give away your personal advantages to advance your principles, you have no right to offer up the rights of others.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Lee makes a good point about who ends up negatively affected by disparate treatment based upon race. This highlights how race and class intersect. While using race as a factor may not be the “best” solution to remedy racial injustice, it is one method that has produced some benefits for those traditionally marginalized/disenfranchised in this culture because of race. Rather than eliminating race as a factor (and, in my view, throwing out the baby with the bath water) why not take socioeconomic class into consideration as well?
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