One of the most hypocritical statements ever made into law
is the following:
The state shall not
discriminate against, or grant preferential 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.
This is the anti-affirmative action Initiative 200, passed by
58 percent of the voters in the state of Washington in 1998. Maybe a few
dim-witted people not paying attention actually thought it “meant” what it said.
Some people were even fooled when they saw black people out on the sidewalks with
the signature boards, who were not “volunteers” but paid signature gatherers
who did not even know that the initiative’s aim was to harm them. And that “aim”
was to appease those whites who blamed under-represented minorities for not
being admitted to the school of their choice.
The problem, of course, was that very few whites would have “benefited”
from denying a handful of black (or Latino) students college admission. The
greater problem was the grotesque over-representation of international students—which
schools like the University of Washington was “forced” to invite because of the
state’s bottom-dwelling support for education in general. I’m sure it makes
this so-called “progressive” state feel “good” about itself by shitting on the
most vulnerable demographics, just for a few additional college admission seats
for the fry of white “privilege.”
But the real hypocrisy is that this state—and all other states—violate
the anti-discrimination mantra every day, and have done so every day for ever
since there were states. Initiative 200 didn’t stop discrimination in the state
of Washington; it only made it more pernicious and widespread. It basically
said that it was OK for whites (both male and female), in the backrooms where
all the decisions were made, to give preferential treatment to other whites.
Affirmative action programs were a nuisance because they forced these people to
consider hiring or admitting under-representative minorities. Now, they can
give whatever excuse they want to—or give no reason at all—and no one will call
it discrimination.
\
And now comes the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court—continuing
to erode equal opportunity for minorities in this country—upholding Michigan’s
voter-approved ban on anti-affirmative action, Proposition 2, passed in 2006. The
“progressive” Seattle Times, of
course, didn’t find this particularly troubling or even newsworthy, since it
only affected under-represented racial minorities, not white women or the gay
community. In many ways, Michigan is even more discriminatory than Washington,
which is why the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals had previously ruled
the proposition unconstitutional, violating the equal protection clause. The
court also noted the hypocrisy of white students being allowed to take
advantage of “legacy” rules, whether they were personally qualified or not.
According to the 2010 Census, blacks make up 14.2 percent of
Michigan’s population, yet the University of Michigan has only a 5.8 percent
black undergraduate enrollment. On the other hand, Asian students—again, many
who are foreign students—make up 12 percent of the undergraduate enrollment,
despite constituting just 2.3 percent of the state’s population. It is very
much the same story at Michigan State University. But once more those cowardly whites
who are mired in their sense of “privilege” and personal cupidity are seeking redress by victimizing the most vulnerable and discriminated against groups.
No comments:
Post a Comment