Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 2 July 1998 — Page 2

The Muncie Times, July 2,1998, Page 2

EDITORIAL

Affirmative action still needed in United States

In 1996 California, the country’s most populous state, led the way in stepping backwards. This was when the socalled Golden State took the regressive step of voting to eliminate affirmative action. This was a regressive step, but one that quite a number of other states are lusting to emulate. This underlines once again how desperate politicians and other naysayers and shameless opportunists are willing to go to any length to distort what’s really happening.

To hear them tell it, affirmative action is the same thing as “reverse discrimination,” whatever that means. Others equate it with racial quotas or racial preference in hiring and firing. To the most demagogic of them, affirmative action is a conspiracy aimed at unfairly removing white men from their privileged position as captains of industry, chief executive officers, chief operating officers, board chairs and presidents and top managers and occupants of most executive positions in the country and

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replacing them with “unqualified” minorities and women. That, of course, it an unadulterated lie. The perpetrators of this lie know what they are doing. Any fair-minded person would have to concede that there is something radically wrong in a multiracial and gender-inclusive society if most of the top positions in the private and public sectors are held primarily by one race and one gender. Affirmative action, regardless of what the mischief-makers try to say, it nothing more than an attempt to level the playing field so that all Americans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, color or gender would have an equal opportunity and an equal chance at life’s opportunities. There is abundant evidence that women and racial and ethnic minorities have suffered discrimination in this country. If you look at the numbers in the U.S. Congress, in judicial appointments at the federal and state levels, at the composition of state legislatures, city and journalism, the crafts and skilled trades areas or at the make up of the senior position in banking, commerce and industry, it is clear that women and racial minorities are grossly under represented. Those problems have existed since this country was founded. There is no sign that there is a built-in selfcorrecting mechanism to

change the situation. That’s why it became necessary for government to step in with remedial measures designed to redress these grievances. One can argue the merits or success of affirmative action programs. But no sane person can deny that conditions, although far from perfect, have improved because of affirmative action. The nation would be in far worse condition, on the gender and race issues, were it not for some of the achievements that are directly related to affirmative action. Now is not the time to back away from supporting affirmative action. Now should be the time to redouble our efforts to end racism and sexism. As the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. noted in his famous 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech, one day he hoped for a society where people would not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. That day has yet to arrive. Until that day, as Dr. King so eloquently observed, it would be unfair to believe that those who came to this country freely and those who arrived on overcrowded, stinking slave ships can automatically have equal opportunities and chances. There has to be room to correct the problems caused by slavery and other forms of discrimination. Those who have been victims of sexism and racism should be entitled to opportunities that will give

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them an equal opportunity to compete at the starting gates. Nothing else will do. When all the dust has settled, it is important to remember that this country can never achieve it’s potential until all its people are given and feel they have been given a chance to compete fairly and equally, including correcting past racial and gender discrimination. We can accept nothing less than that. Affirmative action is not about discriminating against anyone, including white males. It is not about giving anybody an unfair advantage. It is not about giving racial and ethnic minorities and women an opportunity to use the same starting gates. It is about making this country inclusive, celebrating its diversity and recognizing that all groups, regardless of race or sex, have to contribute their best in a fair society, if the United States of America is ever to reach its potential. When that day arrives, we can look forward to the disappearance of the hyphenated American. When that day comes, we’ll all be able to appreciate and understand the diversity that underpins this country and its destiny with history. The demographics of this country are changing irreversibly. In the next 20 to 25 years, file overwhelming majority of people who will be entering the work force will be women and ethnic minorities country is increasing. The United States is truly becoming a multi-ethnic and multiracial country. We will have to learn to live with each other or sink together. Affirmative action is an attempt, a feeble one at that, to try and correct some of the gender and ethnic discrimination of the past. It is nothing more than effort to level the playing field and to prepare for the day when no single group will be able to claim majority status. That is a worthwhile goal.