Carol Moseley Braun on Affirmative Action

[chequita guevara]

Or one unqualified white that started *****ing to all his friends about reverse racism.

[DinoDoc]

You people do realize that if they dropped the race qualifier and moved AA toward taking into account income status it would accomplish the stated goal of helping society rather than what it does now (ie help primarially white females). It would also remove the rather distasteful patronizing and racist aspects of the program.

[Jon Miller]

yah DinoDoc

it is primarily an income thing

Jon Miller

[Caligastia]

East asians probably suffer the most thanks to AA. My Chinese co-worker has many friends and relatives whose kids were kept out of top schools because of AA.

[Dis]

what's wrong with affirmitive action

[rah]

Yes, I would prefer to see it applied more towards income, but that would be a lot easier to cheat on, and you know it would happen. I've got a couple of buddies with hispanic last names that are more waspish than most wasps. And they have taken advantage of the situation. At least that took a good last name. Imagine if it was faking you were poor.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Dissident
what's wrong with affirmitive action

It disciminates against unqaulified white men in favor of qualified Black people.

[Dis]

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by rah
Imagine if it was faking you were poor.

Is that any better than assuming that the black man is inferior and that we have to take care of him?

[rah]

I think both are bad, so what's your point?

My only point has been that I don't want to see white males screaming about how badly they're disadvantaged by AA, since they still have better advantages.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by rah
I think both are bad, so what's your point?

My point is that simply hand waving about white advantage (and this goes for both che and you) doesn't really even begin to address legitimate complaints about AA itself and how it is put into practice.

[Dis]

sure it does.

white men have everything handed to them in this country. well... unless they are white trash

[Ben Kenobi]

A lot of my success might be attributed to being a somewhat well connected white male that is slender and tall. (all things I have no control over)

No need to feel guilty for something that is not your responsibility, nor should you be sorry for your success. I think it's cool to have someone admit that many things had to go their way for them to get to where they are now. I know that's my case.

[Q Classic]

what's wrong with affirmitive action

1. although ostensibly for minorities, in reality it's only used to advance the causes of blacks, hispanics, and occasionally, women. other minorities, most notably asians, are ignored because somehow, we're too "white", so it's not that we hit a glass ceiling, we're just too short to reach it.

2. because it's not really interested in promoting equality for all minority groups, it's really just a benefits program that sponsors specific ethnic groups at the expense of others.

3. why the hell is it called "affirmative action"? what's the sense in that term?

[Ned]

Originally posted by Q Cubed
i don't like affirmative action. by definition, it's supposed to help minorities.
asians are right now one of the smallest minorities, but we never get aa. we get everything else, including the glass ceiling, but... no aa. we're too "successful".

if we keep affirmative action the way it is, then call it what it is. get rid of this purported "it's for the minorities" bull**** if you're not going to give it to all the minorities. it's a benefits program for blacks, hispanics, and women--in short, minorities with powerful lobbies.

that said, even if they did give asians affirmative action, i'd despise it because it was race-based. if you're going to try to do something to create a colorblind society, you don't do it by focusing on color.

affirmative action based on economic strata would work far better. that way, a genius white kid who lives in a trailer park in podunk, alabama, would be allowed into a school which he'd never be able to afford, rather than some rich black kid who's merely average who lives in the posh suburbs of new york.

race-based affirmative action sucks.

You know, Q-Cubed, Janice Rogers Brown, a black woman who is on the fast track to the Supreme Court, has argued strongly against affirmative action with almost the same words as you just used.

Ted Kennedy called her a Neanderthal.