From: mcbean@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Re: Racist/Sexist Role Models
Date: 15 Dec 92 11:55:03 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <37898@uflorida.cis.ufl.edu>, djohns@elm.circa.ufl.edu (David A. Johns) writes:
> In article <Bz2vt0.5D7@quake.sylmar.ca.us> brian@quake.sylmar.ca.us (Brian K. Yoder) writes:
> 
> # But DOES a little racism make affirmative action "necessary"?  I
> # don't see why it does.  Particularly in the cases where neither the
> # employer/school nor the employee/student has been shown to be
> # involved in any racist behaviors or consequences.
> 
> It's unfortunate that we sometimes have to pay for the mistakes of
> others, but it's not all that unusual.  The careful 18-year-old driver
> still pays higher insurance because of his reckless peers.  Men have
> trouble getting jobs in the child-care field because of the relatively
> higher incidence of child molestation among men in general.  The whole
> class has to take a proctored exam together out of fear that a few
> might cheat on a take-home.
> 
> The Supreme Court ruled over 38 years ago that it expected all US
> public schools to be integrated "with all deliberate speed", as I
> remember.  In the early '70s, having noticed that the states had
> accomplished very little of this assignment after an entire generation
> of children had passed through the schools, the courts mandated
> forced busing. Now, after another entire generation, it is clear that
> schools are still separate and unequal.
> 
> If the states had done what they were supposed to have done in the 50s
> (not so easy to enforce these laws, eh?), we would not be where
> we are today.  But as it is, we see clearly that one major reason
> blacks are underrepresented in higher education is that they have been
> deprived of lower education, and that the reason they have been so
> deprived is traceable directly to race-based policies.
> 
> So it's not too surprising that it should be decided that a
> substantial number of these students are probably capable enough of
> catching up if they are given the opportunity.  Of course there are
> non-blacks of whom you could say the same thing, and many blacks have
> already achieved parity.  But the only way we could make the system
> work better is by spending more on it.  Are you for that?
> 
> So maybe that poor soul who ended up at the top of the waiting list
> after all the slots were filled never personally discriminated against
> any blacks.  But if those schools which short-change black kids had
> been set right when they were supposed to have been, there would be
> far more black kids on the market today with much higher SATs and
> GPAs, so our poor sniveler would probably have ended up at his second
> choice in any case.
> 
> Again, we are dealing with a complex system, not isolated little
> universes in which we can make clean moral judgments.
> 
> David


The sad truth about all these people who are posting about why AA is wrong
don't give jack shit about the problems facing black people.  I wish the
rambling hordes would read this post again, especially since it's not coming
from a "whingeing African-American".

McBean