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July 4, 2003 Affirmative Action: Regulations/policies that require employers and institutions of higher learning to admit, hire, recruit and promote women and minorities when those groups are underutilized/underrepresented in comparison with their numbers in the labor force or pool of “potential students.” On Monday, June 23, 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed two cases involving the admissions policies of the University of Michigan, and arrived at what could be described as a split decision. It one case, the court rejected the university’s undergraduate procedure that granted substantial advantage to members of “favored ethnic groups” (e.g. blacks and Hispanics) based solely on that membership. That was a good decision. However, at the same time, the court approved the university’s law-school entrance scheme that permits race and ethnicity to be taken into account -- for extra credit as it were -- when applications are considered. That was a bad decision. That is true because affirmative action is actually a negative action. There is nothing positive about it. When such predominantly-white workplaces and educational institutions as the U.S. Postal Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, General Motors, AT&T, and the universities or Michigan and California “take affirmative action to recruit, admit, hire and promote African- Americans,” it is nothing but a modern version of what took place on slave plantations. It is an example of the “master” tossing the “darkies” a few scraps and allowing some of them to move into the “Big House.” The point is that for so long as government- imposed affirmative-action programs are in place, the U.S. will remain the giant plantation it is. A great many blacks will go right on regarding themselves as “powerless subjects” who cannot survive unless special provisions are made for them -- and a great many whites will go right on seeing themselves as the “masters.” Before I go on, I must say that I am certainly aware of the reasons why much of the nation believes that government-imposed affirmative- action programs are necessary. Because of my personal experiences alone, I know that blacks are frequently denied jobs because of the color of their skin. In fact, I have been held back by discriminatory hiring practices so many times that I lost count way back in the 1970s. I am also fully aware that black workers are often the “last hired and first fired,” and that such injustices of the past as slavery and “Jim Crow” laws have caused blacks to be one of the most disadvantaged groups there is, if not THE most disadvantaged. However, my reaction to affirmative-action programs and all of the other steps being taken to “make up for what was denied African-Americans in the past” is thanks, but no thanks. Even though I am a member of what is probably the most disadvantaged group in the country, I do NOT want, or need, any special rules and regulations to help me land a job. And I do not need anybody to “level the playing field” for me or to remove “glass ceilings.” When it comes to gaining employment and advancing in the workplace, I am always ready, willing and able to compete with white males under their rules -- and even when their rules are “unfair to women and minorities.” Furthermore, on those occasions when I am denied a job because of my race, I have two reasonable alternatives: (1) I can seek employment someplace else. (2) I can generate a job for myself, even if it comes down to shining shoes on a street corner. Holding down a job as a “shoeshine boy” is NOT beneath my dignity -- I will gladly perform that kind of work if I ever have to. But it is beneath my dignity to work in a place where, if not for a set of special rules and regulations, I would not be regarded as equal to white males. Before I allow myself to be classified as someone who cannot keep up with white males unless special provisions are made for me, I will sleep in the streets and earn income by collecting discarded bottles and cans. That’s no lie and I will never eat those words. I hate affirmative action! The only opportunity that it offers blacks is to remain slaves. If blacks in general abhorred affirmative action as much as I do, their society would be far better off than it is. For one thing, blacks would be out there generating a lot more jobs for themselves than they are, which would go a long way towards lowering their stratospheric levels of unemployment and poverty. Moreover, if blacks began “hating” affirmative action, their society would begin to break away from the chains that have always held it back. By assuming the attitude that “we don't need no stinkin’ affirmative action,” the entire group would begin to shed the unliberated way of thinking that has always caused it to be overly- reliant on government-assistance and the goodwill of whites. Now, there is only one reason -- and one reason alone -- why the likes of Jesse Jackson, John Conyers, Jr., John Lewis, Al Sharpton, Charles Rangel, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton are in favor of such programs as affirmative action and minority set-asides. Those “progressives” want blacks to remain slaves forever. ------------ About the author: Mr. Hannon is the author of “The Clearstone Project,” a novel. To learn more about him and the book, go to: www.trafford.com/robots/02-0927.html or email Julius Hannon: Hannon4000@aol.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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