Wednesday, October 23, 1996
FAIRNESS:
Passage of Proposition 209 would be a step in right directionBy
Adam Reed
One would be sadly and grossly mistaken to believe that because
of today’s interpretation of affirmative action a fair and equal
society has finally been obtained. It would be wrong to do away
with affirmative action because it has served its purpose and
ensured equality of opportunity for all. If we are going to do away
with this program in November by passing Proposition 209 , then it
should be for the real reasons that some do not want to admit.
Some believe affirmative action still benefits society by
"helping" (or, should we say,"giving") minorities the rewards that
all white males are somehow (though I still have not discovered how
yet) inherently granted. This is precisely the reason it should be
erased; because it does not help anymore  it gives. Its
original purpose, which was to allow blacks equality of
opportunity, has been abandoned for a new interpretation which
encourages equality of outcome through goals and set-asides for all
except white males.
It is astonishing to me to see how some people are so willing,
and even eager, to capitalize when classified by the color of their
skin. If we are truly a society that wants to eradicate
discrimination, then why do people continue to voluntarily group
themselves together by race? This very act was the basis for
outlawing the segregation they so vehemently despised. How can
anyone truly believe that today’s affirmative action policies will
ever lead to America forming a civilized whole, when just the
opposite  drifting apart  is encouraged.
Dinesh D’Souza, author of The End Of Racism: Principles for a
Multiracial Society says that,"a multiracial society can survive
only if fair rules are applied neutrally to all citizens …"
Affirmative action defeats this very purpose. Affirmative action
puts one group ahead of another, based solely on race, disregarding
such factors as economic status, education and job training. It
argues that because someone is a white male they inherently have,
yet are not entitled to, more privileges than minorities. Everyone,
including white males and minorities, should have to work hard to
achieve their success through merit.
Solving the problem of discrimination with laws and regulations
is not the answer. Getting rid of them through Proposition 209 is a
start in the right direction. Education and job training are
clearly the greater need now. They, as it happens, were part of
what affirmative action originally was all about.
Just as our constitution is color-blind, so should be our
society. "No quota will make any of us successful. No program of
quotas will prevent the last of us from failing," says editor
Donald Altschiller. Great civil rights leaders believed in these
thoughts and strived to obtain equality.
"I have a dream," Martin Luther King Jr. said 30 years ago,
"that my four little children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the
content of their character." If we continue to allow affirmative
action policies lined with preferential treatment, and set-asides
to displace merit in America, that day is further off than
ever.