Think!

16 responses so far ↓

• Ann // Nov 8, 2006 at 2:46 pm

  “The programs thus not only reinforce the idea that minorities are inherently inferior, they actually increase racial animus.”

  AA for black people was meant to make the “playing field level. To give QUALIFIED (yes, qualified) black people a chance to open the door and go in. And contrary to the lie that many people willingly believe, not all black people are incompetent, lazy stupid wretches who are not capable of doing the job they apply for. The purpose behind AA was to give black people a chance to apply themselves in this life. But, since many people refuse to believe that there are black people who are intelligent and capable of getting the job done, AA or not, those black people will still have a tough row to hoe, whether or not they went through an AA program or not.

  There are many black people who are highly intelligent but without the chance to get to prove themselves, and I am not talking about AA, but, without the chance to get in through the door, they will never get that chance.

  Not all jobs require AA; schools, universities, etc., do.

  But all Americans are still not equal in their views of black people, even when the black person is highly, and sometimes, overly qualified for the job.

  And there are many who have benefitted from AA. And they are not black people:

  -White women have benefitted tremendously from AA (and by proxy, the white men in their lives, their husbands, sons, have benefitted);
  -Asian Americans are over-represented in AA. Poor or upper-class Asians. But, no one screams or cries about them getting benefits form AA.
  -Foreign-born blacks (Nigerians and Caribbean-born blacks). But, let an American-born black seek the benefits of AA, then everyone will come out of the woodwork screaming, with whips, chains, and nail-studded baseball bats to attack anything black people attempt to better themselves with.

  Yes, Proposition 2 was approved.

  But, let’s take a look at when AA was “white.”

  Let’s take a look at when AA was white, both past, and present.

  Affirmative action for the longest time has enjoyed being “white.”

  Affirmative action for whites was enshrined in the abolition of European indentured servitude, which left black slaves as the only UNFREE labor in the colonies that would become the United States.

  Affirmative action for whites was the essence of the 1790 Naturalization Act, which allowed virtually ANY European immigrant to become a full citizen, even while blacks, Asians and American Indians could not.

  Affirmative action for whites was the guiding principle of segregation, Asian exclusion laws and the theft of half of Mexico for the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny.

  In recent history, affirmative action for whites motivated racially-restrictive housing policies that helped 15 million white families procure homes with FHA loans from the 1930s to the 1960s, while people of color were mostly excluded from the same programs.

  For centuries, white people were, and in many cases, still are the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action.

  White affirmative action has skewed lives, shaped our public policy and helped create the glaring inequalities with which we still live.

  This is seen in the major advantages white America has been afforded in everything of importance that affects anyone’s life in this country: housing, education, employment, criminal justice, politics, banking and business.

  The human who resides in the white house showed his contempt for the affirmative action procedures that the University of Michigan has on its books. Bush, himself a lifelong affirmative action beneficiary for the rich and mediocre attacked the school’s policies calling them “quotas” that were examples of unfair racial preferences. In his ignorance of Michigan’s policies, he showed his clear incompetence in being able to see and grasp the huge magnitude of white privilege still in force:

  http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/15/bush.affirmativeaction/index.html

  Bush attacked Michigan’s 150-point evaluation scale for undergraduates who are members of disadvantaged/minority groups, which at U of M means blacks, Latinos, American Indians. To many white people such a “preference” is blatantly discriminatory. And Bush also conveniently failed to cite the greater number of points awarded for other things which showed preference towards whites to the exclusion of people of color:

  http://www.newsaic.com/mwaffirmativeaction.html

  Michigan awards 20 points to any student from a low-income background, REGARDLESS of race. Since these points cannot be combined with those for minority status (in other words, POOR blacks don’t get 40 points), in effect this is a preference for whites.

  Michigan awards 16 points to students who come from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan: a rural, largley isolated and almost predominantly white area.

  These preferences are fair see in as they are done on the recognition that economic status and even geography (as with race) can have a very profound effect on the quality of K through 12 school one attended, seeing as no one should be punished for such things they have no control over.

  But, keep in mind, such preferences—though disproporionately awarded to whites—REMAIN UNCHALLENGED AND UNCRITICIZED, while preferences for black people become the target of reactionary vehemence.

  White preference remains hidden because it is more subtle, more ingrained and is not called white preference, even as that is what it is.

  But wait.

  There’s more.

  Ten points are awarded to students who attended top-notch schools, and another 8 points is awarded to students who took an especially demanding Honors curriculum.

  These preferences may be race-neutral, but in practice, they are anything but. Because of extreme racial isolation (and note, Michigan’s school’s are the most segregated in America for black Americans according to the research by the Harvard Civil Rights Project):

  http://www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu

  Students of color rarely attend the “best” schools and on average schools that they attend offer only a third as many honors courses as those schools serving white students.

  Even if a black student is highly intelligent he/she will still be unable to access those extra points mainly because of where they live, their economic status and ultimately their race, which is intertwined with both.

  Four more points are awarded to students of parents who are alumni. This type of affirmative action Bush should be very familiar with. But, ironcally, while the alumni preference could work towards the interest of diversity if combined with aggressive race-based AA ( by creating a larger number of black and brown alumnis), the rollback of the latter, combined with the almost guaranteed retention of the former will only futher perpetuate white preference.

  So U of M offers 20 “extra” points to the typical black, Latino, or Indian applicant, while offering various combinations of up to 58 extra points for students who will almost all be white. And while the first of these are seen as examples of racial preference, the second are not, HIDDEN as they are behind the structure of social inequities that limit where people live, where they go to school and the kinds of opportunities they have been afforded in life.

  Of course all of the above is now moot with the passage of Proposition 2.

  White preferences, by being the result of the normal workings of a racist society, can and will remain out of sight, out of mind, while the power of the state is turned against the paltry preferences meant to offset them.

  White preferences will continue to keep white privilege, and white people ahead of non-white children.

  And this privilege will continue to allow them to not to have to think about race on a daily basis.

  This privilege will continue to not have them contend with their inteligence not be questioned by such racist best-selling books such as “The Bell Curve”, or having their culture attacked as “dysfunctional” by politicians and white “scholars”.

  Their privilege of not having to be looked at as a “problem”, “out of place” while driving, shopping, buying a home, or for that matter, attending the University of Michigan.

  And there is the privilege of not being denied an interview for a job because your name sounds “too black”.

  So long as America harbors her racist preferences that favor whites, and continues to work those privileges for the benefits of whites, all the screaming and squealing talk to end affirmative action is not only premature, but is also a slap in the face of those who have fought and died for equal opportunity.

• Scott // Nov 9, 2006 at 9:44 am

  Personally I don’t see how anyone can claim we are making racial progress in this country until the prison industrial machine is more reflective of ACTUAL crime rates and not our racist system.

  Awesome research Ann.

• Paul // Nov 13, 2006 at 9:10 am

  We all have to admit that we live in a different racial climate than we did when AA started. I don’t think we all live in some kind of 3-d version of Candyland or anything, but I think on the business level, at least we are better off than we were.

  Affirmative action was important because it helped fight discrimination, albeit however slightly with a little discrimination of its own. It was choosing the lesser evil and in previous decades, I would agree with it. However, there is still much work to be done in regards to racial progress and since many of the minorities have been expanding, getting better jobs, becoming awesome examples in society, and showing that equality was TRULY deserved since they are in fact equal.(Unfortunately, minorities had to prove it to some people.) We’ve had affirmative action for a while now and I think we should have looked(and should now look) at it as a Band-Aid that helps society get to a better place, which I believe it has done. Now, we need surgery.

  Surgery to segregation in schools as you say(I don’t live in Michigan, but I can believe segregation’s still going on in some places) and surgery to racist pratices of colleges and universities. I believe that society is in an adolescent stage that will be privy, like adolescents to severe difficulties in growing up.

  We have to grow up, though. If we as a society teach our children, albeit indirectly, that white people have to give a helping hand to minorities for them to succeed, then we’re teaching them the wrong thing. It shouldn’t be about how many people of a Minority A are working at company A or company B. It should be about progress to where we all live in a society that racial difference can’t affect our social status. Affirmative action can’t get us there, but we have to find something that will at least help more, before we take away AA.

  The job process is another story. My last job, there was a woman who had emigrated from England a couple years previous and a black woman who had lived in the state all her life and they were the human resources department. If we have two women, one who had been a foreigner most of her life and one who was a racial minority and they were doing all the hiring for a company that employed around 3,000 people, then a few things have to have changed for the better.

  Affirmative action shouldn’t have been banned without a better practice imposed on businesses and universities and so on. However, when talking about white people being discriminated against, it’s not talking about people like President Bush and other’s who are making it, it’s talking about the idea that there are some white people out there who had 4.0’s who didn’t receive attention, while some minority members with 3.5’s were catered to. It’s not the majority of the cases. It’s just part of the bigger problem. The point is that there are other ways of determining job or university elegibility. That it should be determined equally, regardless of race.

  Hopefully, Michigan politicians(or politicians of any state that tries to ban AA laws) have something up their sleeves to up end problems that will rise due to a very possibly premature ban on laws that did indeed promote racial progress, but didn’t come close to creating real equality. AA was a step in the right direction, but without another more efficient, more equitable step, then we might see plummeting trends back towards the ground floor.

  Scott, I think I know where you’re going with what you’re talking about. Could you cite specific websites or books that has led you to this premise? I would be very interested in researching what you have learned.

• Scott // Nov 13, 2006 at 4:21 pm

  Sure..

  A lot of what I learned regarding race and history was in college at SUNY Purchase from Lynn Mahoney, an awesome history professor who dissected and flipped inside out, the biased history I had been taught in high school.

  Beyond that some other sources of information are:

  Non Fiction:
  “Autobiography of a Blue Eyed Devil” by Inga Muscio. Inga is a beautiful mind. This book gives tons and tons of resources.

  Also check: http://www.ingalagringa.com

  “Wages of Whiteness” by David R. Roediger

  Some Fiction:
  “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison
  “Another Country” by James Baldwin

  I have more but not off the top of my head.. I’m not currently at home and don’t have access to my book collection.. I’ll post more when I get home tonight.

  Another person who has taught me tons about this topic is my dear friend Ms. Mel Kozakiewicz. who is a brilliant poet/artist/activist. She has a great piece about the prison industrial machine. She also compiled the resource section of Inga’s book. Her website is:
  http://www.readspeakresist.com

• Ann // Nov 14, 2006 at 8:40 pm

  “We have to grow up, though. If we as a society teach our children, albeit indirectly, that white people have to give a helping hand to minorities for them to succeed, then we’re teaching them the wrong thing. It shouldn’t be about how many people of a Minority A are working at company A or company B. It should be about progress to where we all live in a society that racial difference can’t affect our social status. Affirmative action can’t get us there, but we have to find something that will at least help more, before we take away AA”

  And “we”as a society have to stop raisning white children as if they are inherently better than their fellow black classmates.

  I do not expect or want a “hand-out’ from white America. I have long since stopped expecting white America to care whether or not black people succeed in this country. Black people can depend on NO ONE but themselves, and the racist treatment of this country towards them from the time they were brought here against their will, shows itself in how America really does not want to see black Americans improve or progress any further

  Michigan’s passage of Prop. 2 sent that message loud and clear.

  It’s okay if everyone else excels in America because of their merit, test scores, etc., but let a black student and yes, for your information, there are black students with GPAS of 4.00 just like whites, try and use what was originally intended to be a “hand UP”, and the whole world gets a torn-up gut about it.

  I would love for white America to do what it really should do as far as black people are concerned:

  -Stop treating black people like strangers in their own country;
  -Treat black people as equals, and not as walking anamolies

  Black Americans do not want handouts, contrary to what many non-black people think.

  And as far as AA is concerned, MOST black people got to where they are job-wise and career-wise, WITHOUT AA, not with it.

  And I did not talk about “white people being discriminated against.”

  I wrote of black people being discriminated against.

  With the information I wrote above, I thought that would have been clear to you.

  However, there is still much work to be done in regards to racial progress and since many of the minorities have been expanding, getting better jobs, becoming awesome examples in society, and showing that equality was TRULY deserved since they are in fact equal.(Unfortunately, minorities had to prove it to some people.) We’ve had affirmative action for a while now and I think we should have looked(and should now look) at it as a Band-Aid that helps society get to a better place, which I believe it has done. Now, we need surgery. ”

  Yes, minorities have had to “prove it”to the white-dominant society. What you say is nothing new. And black people have had to be “twice, and many times, thrice” as better than white people when they sought to better themselves.

  And there have always been “awesome examples” of black people who excelled in America way before AA.

  In the American South, there were many black people who only a few decades out of slavery, who learned to read and write, and went on to set up businesses and build communities and schools for themselves.

  But, at every turn they went, they were met with cruelty and violence by white people during Jim Crow segregation: businesses looted and burned to the ground, entire communities destroyed, all of the black inhabitants driven from their property by the racist mobs which looted and stole the property the black people had to leave behind while fleeing for their lives.

  Black people are not strangers to hard work, “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps”, and yes white America did everything it could to keep black people behind.

  But, since so many wrongs have been done against black America,the least white America can do is to stop treating her black citizens as if they do not have a right to better themselves.

  AA is not white America’s helping her black citizens with a handout.

  AA is white America saying to her black citizens that at least after all she has done to destroy black America, she will attempt some kind of try to do right by them.

  Even if this “help” comes in the form of scraps, bones and crumbs of AA.

  I don’t think we all live in some kind of 3-d version of Candyland or anything, but I think on the business level, at least we are better off than we were. ”

  Yes, we certainly do not live in a “3-d version of Candyland or anything”. “We” stilllive in the real world where racism is still deeply entrenched and endemic. It has been going on in this country for over 400 years. You can’t expect to believe that what has been ongoing for centuries can be done away with in just the form of a job, an opportunity, a CHANCE for black people to better themselves.

  “…but I think on a business level at least we are better off than we were.”

  Yeah, you are right about that.

  White America started this racism disease.

  But, I will say this about her:

  Once she started realizing that racism, discrimination and the stupidity of it was costing her MONEY, she changed her act presto-chango.

  Racism is bad for business.
  Discrimination is bad for business.
  Stupidity is bad for business.

  At least on your comment on “business” I can whole-heartedly agree.

  America has never missed a beat when it comes to the almighty dollar.

  What the heck.

  That’ s how slavery and Jim Crow segregation was able to last so long.

  Never let it be said that America, does not turn down money whenever it is presented to her.

  Business as usual.

• Thomas // Nov 15, 2006 at 4:10 am

  I think that everyone has been bringing up very good points. Ann is definitely right in saying that there are other types of affirmative action that no one ever complains about–athletes that get in with abysmally low GPAs and test scores because they are good at their sports, students of alumni, the list goes on. There are inequalities everywhere we turn.

  I would ask Ann though, is the fault of white people alive today that history unfolded the way it did? Is it the fault of black people alive that it unfolded the way it did? Sure, it did and will for a very very long time give whites an advantage, but how long are we going to continue to make people apologize for something they had no part in? Slavery was over 150 years ago at this point. The last slave in my family was nearly seven generations ago. SEVEN! No, perhaps it is not fair that we know we have to work five times harder than the next guy would, but in my mind, we know that in advance, so, suck it up and do it.

• Ann // Nov 15, 2006 at 7:03 pm

  And I’m used to sucking it up and have made a very good life for myself.

  But since I am an American living in America, I know that I have a right to speak my mind just like everyone else.

  And no, I do not hold whites of today guilty for what whites of the past did.

  Like I said in my comment, treat black citizens as the citizens of this country that they are.

  And I did not EVER ask for an apology.

  I know that black America has never received an apology for America’s wrongs, and black America never will. That is a form of sucking it up.

  I know that I will at times come across white, and other non-white people who will still judge me on the color of my skin, instead of my character, integrity and morals.

  I suck it up.

  I know that I am not always given the benefit of a doubt because of my race.

  And I suck it up.

  Black people are used to “sucking it up.” It comes with living in America, and we have gotten so good at it that even we now consider it second nature.

  No need to tell me about sucking it up.

  I’m an expert.

  But, I do know that I do have the right to express my opinion, whether ot not it is accepted by others.

  And I do not need other’s acceptance to express my opinion.

  And as for working five times harder than the next person, well, that has simply made me even better than most people.

  Nothing like adversity in your life to make you the very best there is, bar none.

• Billy // Nov 16, 2006 at 12:58 am

  Ann, you have made some excellent points. I wholeheartedly agree with you.

• janus2faces // Nov 16, 2006 at 1:05 pm

  Some very excellent points have indeed been made. However, I must be honest and say that where I live white people are fast becoming a minority. In my home state of Washington a person is more likely to be discriminated against because of their age or the fact that they are not considered a minority. I am a college student at a lcoal technical college and I pay my own tuition, rent, and expenses. I am ineligible for financial aid even though I claim myself on my taxes and live alone. I do not receive any support from my parents but because I am not yet 23, saddled with a child, roped into marriage, or enlisted in the military I cannot get any help at all. Frankly if you all want to complain about discrimination take a closer look at the middle class. The rich are affluen enough to pay for everything they need and the poor receive more aid then I could ever dream of, but the middle class is often left high and dry. I don’t feel sorry for myself… I have worked hard thus far and I shall continue to do so, but I do feel that if anyone needs a hand up it is the average joe and not all the special people around him/her.

• Paul // Nov 16, 2006 at 4:09 pm

  Ann, I wasn’t arguing with you in any way. When I said that we don’t need to teach our children that white people have to give black people a handout should be indicative that I, for one don’t believe that that’s true, and that I won’t be teaching my children that. It’s impossible to argue that AA did help equality come closer to a reality. However, making statements that relate white people who brought slaves over from Africa centuries back, and white people alive today, only serves to make you seem a little racist. I’m not saying you are. It doesn’t help when you make comments like,

  “Black people can depend on NO ONE but themselves, and the racist treatment of this country towards them from the time they were brought here against their will, shows itself in how America really does not want to see black Americans improve or progress any further.”

  It sounds like you are about preaching, Everyone’s against black people. No one cares about black people. Ann, come on. We must’ve voted affirmative action into place, so somebody out there must desire equality as much as you do. Can you explain how AA doesn’t promote some level of equality or at least try to? Our government could do more to help and that’s exactly what I’m talking about.

  “AA is white America saying to her black citizens that at least after all she has done to destroy black America, she will attempt some kind of try to do right by them.” This statement isn’t true either.

  Affirmative action is an attempt to have a greater level of equality for all races and ethnicities. Why do you have to say white America and black America? These kind of labels work against the very equality that you want. You actually said, “White America started this racism disease.” That’s ridiculous. The Code of Hammurabi in Mesopatamia, a set of laws from 1800 B.C shows that slavery was already a common practice. That’s almost 4,000 years ago. “White America” wasn’t around then. In addition, slave trading of Africans was happening centuries before America was even discovered by European nations, including the Vikings. So, just because rich white guys brought slaves over from Africa several centuries ago, doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have been slaves somewhere else. You can’t blame white people today for the sins of their forefathers. You say that you don’t, but your words speak volumes against that.

• Marc // Nov 27, 2006 at 6:12 pm

  The problem with the original post (other than he has no idea what he’s talking about) is that he draws his arguments in black and white. AA is bad because it implies minorities are lazy, is racist, etc. Then he proposes something even worse, basing minority enrollments based on zip code, whether parents went to college, parent salary, etc.

  Why does he not know what he’s talking about? It’s easy to imagine that racism doesn’t exist when you don’t experience it because you are part of the dominant culture. When growing up, everyone expects you to take college level classes. When hanging out with co-workers, you’re invited to go golfing, participating in activities, etc.

  Yet when you are a minority, you’re expected to just get by, you don’t get invited, people expect you to fail.

  I think some of you think of racism only in terms of lynching, police beatings, KKK cross-burnings, etc., and I’m sure most of you think that’s bad. But those are only the overt forms of racism. There is also the more subtle versions, some of which you may practice even though you may not be aware of it.

  I’ve been in stores where clerks just stare at you, not friendly, expecting you to steal stuff (FYI, I don’t steal, I was raised not to break laws). You get pulled over late at night just because of your skin color (I’m a good driver, and I wasn’t charged with anything). When as a 7th grader, I was enrolled against my will in a 6th grade math class even though I got great grades in elementary school, and was not allowed to jump grades (I was finally able to transfer to a 7th grade math class but not 8th grade). FYI, I finally got my degree in physics but I know I would have done better had I learned calculus a year earlier, which I would have had I been able to jump up to 8th grade math like many of my white peers was able to do in 7th grade. None of them have any idea that those experiences happened to me. I’m sure my experiences isn’t unique, and that’s only some examples.

  It’s only natural to want to hang out with people who share common experiences, who look/talk like you. It’s more comfortable, and we all do it, regardless of race. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

  But when it comes to excluding others who may be just as if not more talented/experienced, who would otherwise get left behind, who aren’t given opportunities just because of their skin color/gender, then is that not wrong? If a talented woman isn’t invited to go golfing with the boys and hence misses out on the latest gossip at work (who’s trying to line up a new customer, better business opportunities, new techniques to try when brainstorming about problems, managers who are on the outs), then isn’t that unfairly punishing her, who could also benefit from that knowledge gained while golfing? I’m not saying to legislate that everyone must go to this activity or that activity, but to be aware of the consequences, and even to invite fellow co-workers. They may say no for whatever reason, but at least you made the effort.

  If you truly hate AA, then you should also be up-in-arms about nepotism and legacies. George W. Bush got B’s and C’s in high school, yet he went to Yale, taking a spot from someone who worked hard, who got straight A’s, high SAT scores, lots of extra-curricular activities, essays, etc. Was it right that he got in over someone who was a better, more dedicated student?

• Joe // Nov 29, 2006 at 2:20 am

  I suggest that everyone read a book titled “white guilt”. It is written by Shelby Steele, a black conservative. It is about how blacks and whites, together, ruined the promise of the civil rights movement…
  Just a few points I would like to make.
  First, all people are equal. People today all have the chance to do and be whatever they want. To work hard where ever they want. Companies do not hire based on racial preference, (except when you consider AA) they hire based on qualifications of the individuals to best suit the position. Doing this ensures that the company makes as much money as possible. Yeah capitalism! Now, are there some instances where a person might not hire a black person today simply because they are black, sadly yes. But the instances are far and in-between. If this situation comes up proper action should be taken against said employer for racial discrimination.
  Second, black people have been given the opportunity to succeed or fail. The choice is theirs. Just like people of any other ethnicity. People, all people, can work hard and succeed, or sit on the sidelines and watch the world move on without them.
  Third, I’m not buying the story that a poor black kid cannot do as well in school. If a kid has inteligence, no matter what school they are in, they just need to attend, do homework, study, and put real effort into their school work to get a better life. And college after that. How will the black student afford college. It is obvious comming from a poor (again, in this case…I am certainly not saying that all blacks are poor) family they can not afford it. There is a simple answer. Scholarships from doing well in highschool, grants, and Loans. Its amazing. You take out a loan, which pays for college, and after you get out, you get a job and start paying them off. I know this because I am in college now, and will have $100,000 dollars in student loans to pay off before all is said and done. Yet it is worth it.
  Another option is to join the military. In doing so you can get the GI Bill. This is money for college which you are granted to pay for school. As of now, with the top up the allowment is $1280 a month to go to school full time. I know this is not going to cover all of school, and in some universities not even close; but it is something. I am currently recieving said money.
  You see, I did not come from a wealthy family. And the money from the military is definately helping me. Aside from using that money, while on active duty, you can go to school for free with the tuition assistance program. If and when you have time and are in the country.

  As you might have guessed from the above statements, I am against affirmative action. I believe that it further separates people on the issue of race as well as implies that blacks are inferior and need help.
  Blacks do not need more help than anybody else.
  They just need to take personal responsibility for their own lives and aspire to be great, because the ability to become great is in all people, and the oportunity in America for one to follow their dreams and reach their own individual potential is endless.

  Lastly, one major problem in the black culture is who the young look up to as role models. Putting gangster rapers and ball players up on high pedistals is ruining them. The black culture looks down upon accomplished black individual like Condelesa Rice and Colin Powel. Condelesa hold I believe 4 doctorite degress and speeks a multitude of languages and holds the highest position in government a black woman has ever reached. Colin Powel of course has similar admirable attributes. These people are looked down on, even ridiculed; they are called uncle toms and such. Similarly a black child in school is ridiculed if he attains good grades for trying to “act white”. This is extremely offensive to me, and should be to everyone. Again, this implies that only whites do well in school. The fact that such comments come out of the mouths of black children leeds me to believe that they are not being taught the right Values.
  Blacks are affraid of not “acting black”. Which they take to mean as not raping, or trying to be a ball player, to joining a gang, to dumbing down their own inteligence and potential to fit in with the black culture. One example of this in society, in the media, is in the Dave Schepel Show. Where they had a racial draft.
  I even went to a comedy show last weekend and the comedian on stage was saying how he envied white people, because they can go out wearing whatever and not worry about what it looks like or if it gets dirty…He continued to say that he must have the appropriate, pre-approved “gear”
  on, and if he managed to get ketsup on it, he needs to get home to change. He then said if he didn’t do this he might get his “black card” taken away from him.
  I believe that affirmative action and its implication that blacks are entitled to handouts and privilage on the sole purpose of their skin color is wrong, and is contributing, yet not the only factor, to the breakdown of black society and their unwillingness to take responsibility for their own lives.
  Again, please read: White Guilt, by Shelby Steel.

• jacks // May 26, 2007 at 11:21 am

  I think that AA is ridiculous.

  This may not be directly tied to AA but it is my own personal experience:

  I am a college student and graduated high school with a 3.97 GPA, 30 ACT score. I worked incredibly hard for that, and I have had to fight for scholarships in order to attend college , I recieved a few scholarships which helped.

  Now the comparison, a friend of mine from the same high school who never studied, was always a marginal student barely making passing grades got double the scholarships, and his parents make double the money mine do. I was talking with him one day and he mentioned that he recieved many of the “African American ” Scholarships. I think this is disgusting, do you ever see caucasian scholarships? This is a real form of institutional RACISM.

  At my university there is a NAACP chapter, Black Students Ass., Society of Black Engineers, Black Scholars United, Black Graduate Students Association, Black Law students association, Minority Affairs Association, the list continues…..

  Now I search for White Associations:

  No result.

  They host a Black History Month here, a Black Awareness week, Black students are rewarded with banquets for only black scholars.

  THIS IS RACISM, PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT BY PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS.

  If you do not see this, not just from what I wrote but from common sense in your everday lives you are blind!!

  This is wrong and I am flat tired of it, I am not a prejudice person but I hate it when people claim they need AA, and that they are under oppression by a white system of power etc. The only people being oppressed are the new generation of white children/teenagers. Society is not the same as it was in 1960, none of the new generation was even alive then. Times change!

• John Jensen // May 31, 2007 at 12:40 am

  AA is plain wrong and stupid. Very unfair. promotes stupity and laziness.

• Krysta // Jun 4, 2007 at 3:33 pm

  White people don’t need an “association.” They live in Amerikkka, where every month is white history month, and white privilege nurses them gently to sleep every night. White people even have privilege in OTHER countries where WHITE is the minority! Everything is becoming westernized. Did anyone catch Miss Universe the other night? Everyone looked so white I thought that it was Miss America. How sad is it that white beauty now represents almost every country’s beauty in the universe? Miss Japan looked extremely westernized, and she won.

  White people need to admit they have white guilt which causes them to protect themselves with rationalization and denial.

  Chances are if you have ever said, “I’m not racist but…” you are racist! It’s more than just blatantly saying racist things! It’s being scared when you see a black man walking down the street, or locking your door when you drive through a poor area, its saying, “bad neighborhood” when you mean black people… etc.

  Oh and yes, I am white.

• Steve J. // Mar 19, 2008 at 11:22 pm

  Affirmative Blacktion is terrible. Many African American’s claim they want to be equal but yet want extra points for admissions into colleges and other jobs. Thats not very equal now, is it.