By John Digrado
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
NORTHRIDGE — Buffered from the chants and shouts of
anti-Proposition 209 protesters, the hotly-contested debate between
former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke and Los Angeles civil rights
activist Joe Hicks took place on schedule and with little
interruption Wednesday.
While activists and police clashed on the Cal State Northridge
campus, Duke and Hicks exchanged political blows over what may
prove as the most divisive and controversial issue facing voters
this November.
Speaking before a largely minority audience, the former
Louisiana legislator defended the initiative as restoring equal
access to jobs and contracts in California.
"Equal access means exactly what it says – that a qualified
person, regardless of their race, should be considered as part of
the qualified pool of applicants for any job or contract," Duke
said. "Affirmative action is not about that. It says that there is
a racial qualification that needs to be considered."
Hicks, who through the course of the two-and-a-half-hour debate
occasionally mentioned Duke’s white-supremacist past, countered
that the policy instead ensures equal access for minorities to the
applicant pool.
"Affirmative action has never been a case of racial
preferences," Hicks said. "(It) opens the doors to allow minorities
and women into the applicant pool. There are no quotas – there are
good faith agreements to kick open the doors to allow them in."
Accusing some minorities and women of holding a double standard
when it comes to access, Duke called affirmative action an "insult
to the people who work hard" to achieve success. Race and gender
should not be a factor in hiring, he said, claiming that the
African American community has not advanced appreciably under the
policy.
"Affirmative action won’t do it," Duke said. "Society works best
for everyone when it is under a system of merit. Once we have a
fair playing field, that is when minorities will get ahead in this
country."
In the 31 years since the policy was initiated by President
Lyndon B. Johnson, affirmative action has provided a system that
guarantees minorities and women a level playing field, Hicks said,
and that ending it now would stop any progress toward racial
equality.
"If we don’t have guarantees, it will go back to the ‘good ol’
boys’ network," Hicks said. "It will be a massive step to the rear
in this country."
Duke called those same guarantees a kind of reverse
discrimination against the white majority in the country, claiming
that if voters defeat the November initiative, unqualified
minorities will be taking jobs away from suitably qualified
whites.
"There is no way to reform a bad policy … I think (affirmative
action) is immoral," Duke said. "America is changing, and I say
that you have the right to live with your civil rights."
But while Duke asserted whites’ right to defend their heritage,
Hicks urged the crowd to listen to the issues clear of rhetoric and
make a decision for themselves.
"It is very clear to me that race remains a factor in this
society, and that discrimination is a factor in many people’s
lives," Hicks said. "Without affirmative action, how do we ensure
that all have a square shot at employment? How can we get rid of it
if we have nothing to replace it?"
Asked to appear by CSUN student government after other
high-profile Prop. 209 proponents turned them down, leaders claimed
that they did not realize the implications of inviting so
controversial a leader as Duke to the campus.
In the days leading up to the debate, there was often
speculation from many experts that the move was a left-wing ploy to
create opposition to the initiative by associating supporters of
Prop. 209 with a formerly avowed racist.
"The debate itself was pointless," said Mike MacNeil, a
third-year UCLA political science and history major and the
co-chair of Bruin Republicans. "It was an attempt by the CSUN
student government to make supporters of 209 look like racists by
association. It sucks for (CSUN) students who had to pay for that
when there were plenty of people who would have done it for
free."
Supporters of the initiative, such as UC Regent Ward Connerly
and California Gov. Pete Wilson, originally turned down the offer
to defend Prop. 209 in the debate, but took up renewed interest
when student officials announced Duke’s acceptance of the
offer.
"They did invite Pete Wilson. They wanted to have a high-profile
affirmative action debate on their campus, so they did talk to Duke
and he accepted," said Mike Schneider, president of the Bruin
Democrats. "It’s only after they found out that someone who could
be detrimental to the 209 cause (had accepted) that Connerly said
that he would accept."
Connerly, one of the most outspoken and publicly visible
proponents of the initiative, blasted Duke’s appearance as a
"circus."
"David Duke has no place in California," Connerly said at an
address in Van Nuys, several miles from the debate venue. "Duke is
anti-immigration, anti-black, anti-Hispanic, anti-Jewish,
anti-diversity, anti-everything that Prop. 209 stands for.
Everything 209 is about, Duke is opposed to."
While many students recognized the implications of Duke’s
appearance, many who attended the debate reluctantly said that he
did bring up some valid points throughout the argument.
"As a Jew, I came in against Duke, but I see what he’s saying
about how affirmative action does sometimes discriminate against
whites," said Daniel Javinzky, a Cal State Northridge senior
majoring in marketing.
But the debate also served to reinforce others’ opposition to
the initiative, as students claimed that Duke did not have enough
"concrete evidence" to back up his points.
"The fact is that everyone is not being treated equally," said
Michael Anilao, a fifth-year graphics design student at CSUN. "If
you take out affirmative action, the majority of people still won’t
be treated equally."