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I will preface this by stating up front that I am a Triple Threat, categorically speaking, in that I belong to three groups against whom discrimination has historically been levied: indigenous, “handicapped” because I was born with a few less pieces than most others, and female.
And Affirmative Action is crap.
The Supreme Court agrees with me, according to its ruling in the case of student Abigail Fisher v University of Texas.
To summarize, Miss Fisher graduated just outside the top tenth of her graduating class, but was denied entry based on a law enacted by former Texas Governor George Bush that automatically pushes through the top tenth, regardless of grade point average and/or extra-curricular activities. This grants acceptance to those in lower performing schools, especially those that are predominantly comprised of minorities. When eight in ten new admissions of minorities are automatic, the admissions process should be reevaluated, methinks.
It is also no surprise that this is a program backed heavily by our Affirmative Action il Presidente, citing the benefits of Affirmative Action as being ‘that it creates a pipeline for a diverse officer corps that it called ‘essential to the military’s operational readiness.’ (This is where I hold the imaginary gun to my head.)
Now, I am, as stated above, a minority’s minority. And guess what? So is everyone else! “White” means nothing, especially since the Human Race is made up entirely of mixed nationalities at this time. I do not allow bigotry in any form to take up space in my life as it makes me physically violent. Affirmative Action IS bigotry; it allows or disallows based on race or gender, and THAT is the definition of bigotry. How are we as a nation supposed to look past skin tone or other differences when they are just being thrown into our peripheral scope every time we try to see around it? Charlize Theron is a white chick from South Africa- a true African-American, yet we’re supposed to hyphenate every other nationality when the overwhelming majority has never even been to the former country?? Oh, I think not.
That said, if a person wishes to not be judged on their melanin content or lack of, it would be prudent to not let the same define them instead of their character. This message is MLKJ approved.
My wife is a beautiful black woman from Tanzania, a country in eastern Africa. I am a white Texan. My wife and I met and got married while I was teaching in her country. We have one biological son. So the affirmative action debate affects me very personally.
I consider the awarding of government employment, government contracts, government scholarships, and opportunities in public education on the basis of race/ethnicity/sexual orientation/religion to be on the same moral level as apartheid and Jim Crow. No matter how it is tarted up, the real motive behind affirmative action is bigotry. Some are motivated by genuine hatred of those who are different from them, while others seek to exploit it for personal and/or political gain.
I agree with you wholly, RL.
Would you agree with an affirmative action that sought to protect those who are economically disadvantaged now instead of protecting those whose ancestors were sold and treated like cattle?
I guess you are above seeing skin color like all your conservative anti-affirmative action brethren! Bully for you.
And I suppose it’s a given that you don’t feel any injustice when you earn 30 cents less to the dollar than a male if your position. I have to admit, I’m fascinated by terrifying little subgroups like yours!
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