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Go Home Affirmative Action Returns

THE SPINE NOVEMBER 21, 2006

Affirmative Action Returns

BY TNR STAFF

I've admired Stuart Taylor since Mike Kinsley, the former editor of TNR, introduced me to his writing nearly 30 years ago. I read him still in National Journal. In the current issue of the Journal, Taylor writes in praise of Michigan voters for passing a constitutional amendment which they called the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. It won with 58 percent of the electorate and in the context of a big Democratic victory in the state that one would have thought had tipped the scales against it. It reads, as Taylor points out, very much like similar initiatives in California in 1996 and Washington in 1998. So what does it say? "The state shall not discriminate against, or grant special treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." Very direct, very simple.

You see where this leads. Affirmative action, an issue long seen as dormant, is still, as it turns out, a burning matter with the public. I myself had regretfully come to agree with Nathan Glazer that the fight against affirmative action as it had come to be construed was simply over. Here is powerful evidence that it is not. And it will be another trap for the Democrats.

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14 comments

There are some who accuse Republicans of employing racist tactics to attract white Southern voters. However, these same people ignore the mind boggling destruction Democrats have inadvertently caused to inner city black communities. They have turned these areas into pure hell holes. Democrats may often be well meaning, but so what? Their heads are sadly up their rear ends.

- thomsondavid

November 21, 2006 at 10:24am

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when I saw that lonely (1) next to the comments tally, I knew, right down to my race baiting, idiot baiting bona fides... that HE would be the one!

- MrCookie1

November 21, 2006 at 11:41am

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...for proving thomson right again.

- olez

November 21, 2006 at 12:21pm

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The greatest enemy of America's blacks is the Democratic Party. This political institution has turned many of them into self pitying and childish individuals. Democrats have unwittingly done their best to destroy black inner city families. To be blunt, today's Democratic Party is more dangerous to the Afro-American community than the Ku Klux Klan! And no, I am not indulging in hyperbole.

- thomsondavid

November 21, 2006 at 12:30pm

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I guess this is a thomson safe zone. Good with me. Enjoy yourselves. Everyone needs a safe place, free from distractions. Meanwhile, I need to go out and destroy more AA families...

- MrCookie1

November 21, 2006 at 12:36pm

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I need to go out and destroy more AA families ... by distributing free liquor to the AA members? Cookie, when you come down from your snark trip, perhaps you could offer us some insight from the front lines? Specifically, whether affirmative action in college admissions does not tend to benefit low-scoring black professionals' kids at the expense of high-scoring middle- or working-class asian or white kids? Some data and links to studies would be greatly appreciated. t

- teplukhin

November 21, 2006 at 4:06pm

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my snark was a response to the ludicrous allegation that was puked out by thomson, nothing more. To be honest, I don't have any links at my finger tips to give you but I can give personal - flawed and self referential yes - testimony that if not for affirmative action, I would not have been able to get into the college of my choice and in all likelihood, not be in the position of leadership I hold today. So, that is all I can give you. And please remember, if I snark, it is usually because the post deserves a snark. As you can read, if the post asks a legitimate question or poses an honest inquiry, I straighten my act up quick.

- MrCookie1

November 21, 2006 at 4:35pm

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Why bother reading dt? Re your own experience, I hear what you're saying - clearly 20 years ago or more there was a great social need to ensure that high-potential hispanic and black candidates were found and promoted. Partly as a remedy for past wrongs to the group, partly to create a multi-racial professional class for the nation within one generation, partly because, well, a lot of deserving kids would never have considered college otherwise. But is this still the case? Everything I've seen in the academic and corporate worlds, in a public ivy and an ivy alike, in Fortune 100 companies as well, suggests that, since 1990 at least, a majority of the blacks especially who've been admitted or recruited are children of very successful, high-income, often well-connected black professionals. They're buppies' kids -- the LAST people we ought to be helping. Meanwhile, we've seen the elite colleges become steadily more and more tilted toward kids from wealthy backgrounds, with fewer and fewer working class kids of any color, let alone ghetto kids. Doesn't this strike you as backwards? Why should the child of (here are my own anecdotal cases) a law school dean, an African diplomat, a biracial lawyer couple, a surgeon, a wealthy auto dealer etc have his GPA bumped up a full point and allowed to bypass a working-class Vietnamese or Russian or rural working-class white kid with SATs 250 points higher and a much higher GPA? And how does this system help our black underclass today? best, t

- teplukhin

November 21, 2006 at 5:12pm

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as you describe it, does seem disconnected from current realities, yes, I agree. Hey tep, I don't know if I will be able to post over the next few days. Peace, love and understanding to you and yours = and all of TNR = over the Thanksgiving break. I am thankful for many things and you and many many other posters have really brought a spark to my intellectual life. Life around an elementary school is many wonderful things but a intellectual haven it is not. Take care, Ken

- MrCookie1

November 21, 2006 at 5:18pm

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The name of the book is White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era. Every Democrat should read it before they ever again shoot their mouth off. They have already done enormous damage with their self righteous bovine excrement.

- thomsondavid

November 21, 2006 at 5:33pm

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let it rest brother. Enjoy your Thanksgiving, if you're capable of putting aside the polemics for a few days.

- MrCookie1

November 21, 2006 at 5:37pm

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Happy Thanksgiving, Mr C/G. Best to you and yours. btw, you were right on the war.... bottom line is that whatever we or the Iraqis might gain there is not worth my life or my sons' lives (though I trust the Kurds at least will have some freedom, prosperity and sanity in their lives). Holidays and family gatherings have a way of concentrating the mind that way. t

- teplukhin

November 21, 2006 at 5:53pm

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Since affirmative action for race seems to have run its course as far as its effectiveness is concerned, how about a similar program directed at getting lower income classes into college, etc.?

- tnrin

November 21, 2006 at 9:03pm

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Probably the two best ways to increase opportunities for lower-income students are via 1) means-tested vouchers at the primary/secondary level, and 2) programs like that used in Texas in which IIUC the top 10% students at all public high schools are guaranteed a spot in the UT system. Color-blind but not blind to the realities of class; merit-based but still inclusive of all races.

- teplukhin

November 22, 2006 at 11:52am

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