tagged w/ Affirmative Action
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After years of treating their dogs better than their neighbours, these people, need to look inward when asking why is this happening to me? I am sure nobody enjoys seeing humans suffering, but the while white 10% minority had little regard for their fellow countrymen during the bounty years of separation, their businesses thrived, houses got larger, walls higher and pools deeper, all on the backs of black workers who lived and the majority still do in shacks that westerners would refuse to keep chickens in.
I had the displeasure of seeing their racism first hand while living there some years ago. Now the boot is on the other foot, I take no pleasure from their suffering. It does leave me wondering what the hell they thought would happen?
There are many lessons to be learned here, i fear the white South Africans will not see the error of their ways, and continue to blame the indigenous people of this beautiful country for their troubles.
Affirmative Action is the method chosen by the majority to redress the balance of the Apatheid Era, the irony is it is democracy they are unhappy with.After years of treating their dogs better than their neighbours, these people, need to... more
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In this case, White was right, I guess.
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A new admissions policy set to take effect at the University of California system in three years is raising fears among Asian-Americans that it will reduce their numbers on campus, where they account for 40 percent of all undergraduates.
~sfgate.comA new admissions policy set to take effect at the University of California system in... more
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"Tuesday’s election was a stunning triumph for the early 1960s notion of colorblindness: don’t discriminate against people of color—or in favor of them. The election of America’s first black president was a moving and long overdue affirmation of the civil rights movement’s enduring struggle for equal treatment. At the same time, the candidate never asked Americans to vote for him because he is black, saying instead that race is irrelevant. The election also saw the passage of an anti-affirmative action initiative in Nebraska, and the tight—and still contested—vote on a similar initiative in Colorado. Proponents of the two initiatives argue that they are consistent with the original colorblind vision of the civil rights movement. The resonance of the nondiscrimination principle at this time should serve as an important caution for Barack Obama as he ponders the minefields of race he will face as president.
In the coming months, Americans will watch closely to see how America’s first black president governs on issues of race. His supporters are divided. As a recent Washington Post article noted, some black supporters see Obama’s election as “advancing the black community,” while some white volunteers are thrilled by the notion of “post-racial” politics. In liberal academic circles, where Obama has strong multiracial support, the notion of colorblind policies is considered naive, even reactionary. But the Obama crowds in South Carolina memorably chanted “race doesn’t matter” after his victory there in the Democratic primary.
Obama himself has sent mixed signals on the defining issue of affirmative action. On the one hand, he castigated John McCain for supporting an anti-affirmative action initiative during the campaign. On the other hand, when George Stephanopoulos asked Obama whether his own daughters deserve a preference in college admissions, Obama said no, because they “have had a pretty good deal,” and went on to say that special consideration should be provided to low-income students of all races."
What do you think? Do we still need affirmative action?"Tuesday’s election was a stunning triumph for the early 1960s notion of... more
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University of Colorado freshman Darian Salehy loves college life so far — except for one thing.
"It's all white people," Salehy mused on the Boulder campus lawn recently, looking at fellow students headed to class.
Salehy, of Iranian descent, fears the state's flagship university, currently about 9% non-white, might become less diverse if Colorado passes a ballot measure banning government consideration of race or gender in university admissions, contracts and state spending.
The measure is similar to ones approved by voters in California, Michigan and Washington state, as well as one on the Nebraska ballot this year. It's part of a state-by-state push by former California regent Ward Connerly, who tried but failed to get the question on ballots in Arizona and Oklahoma this year.
Affirmative action isn't dominating national political headlines — or even getting a lot of talk in Colorado, where it's just one of 14 ballot measures facing voters and has been overshadowed by the presidential race and financial crisis.
The Colorado Board of Regents has not taken a position on the amendment, though Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter opposes it, saying it would undercut state education efforts. In Nebraska, the State College Board of Trustees and the University of Nebraska both oppose it.
Proponents are unswayed by the fact that the numbers of students of color have declined at flagship schools in states that have passed similar measures. In California, where an affirmative action ban passed 12 years ago, student enrollment among some minorities has dropped despite state efforts to target the poor and non-racial measures to attract a diverse student body.
"For a variety of reasons, people of color lag behind whites — and Asians, to some degree — on standardized tests," said Vikram Amar, a law professor at the University of California-Davis who has studied the effects of California's affirmative action ban.
"The sad reality is, there's no easy way to achieve racial equality without focusing on race."
The University of Colorado does not award "points" toward admission for underrepresented groups. But officials do consider race and gender as factors when they have more applicants who meet academic criteria than they have room for.
CU law professor Melissa Hartis working to defeat the amendment. She said she's struggling to fight a misperception that the university uses quotas or accepts students of color who shouldn't be there.
"Some mornings, I wake up and think, 'It's a hard battle.' Some days I wake up and think, 'Most people in Colorado do not want this,"' Hart said. "So I don't know. I think it could go either way."University of Colorado freshman Darian Salehy loves college life so far — except for... more
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Citizen journalist Tamara Briggman was raised in the projects in South Carolina and made her way out on her own. Together with her co-citizen journalist Elizabeth Gotsdiner, a white college student, Tamara travels to Michigan, site of landmark anti-affirmative action rulings, to investigate the current state of affirmative action and race relations in America. Purple States is a mini-documentary series about a group of five randomly-selected American citizens following the campaign trail for the Washington Post. The citizens’ blogs and daily show can be found at www.purplestates.tv. Citizen journalist Tamara Briggman was raised in the projects in South Carolina and... more
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"In his 19 years as a law professor at UCLA, Richard Sander has pondered a nagging question: Does affirmative action help or hinder African Americans who want to become lawyers?
Two years ago, he published research suggesting that racial preferences at law firms might be responsible for black lawyers' high rate of attrition and difficulty making partner. He hypothesized that in the interest of promoting diversity, law firms sometimes hired black lawyers who were underqualified, and that when there was a "credentials gap" between black and white lawyers at a firm, black lawyers often were less likely to advance and more likely to leave the firm.
The research stirred debate throughout the legal community, and Sander said he was surprised at the vehemence with which people attacked his motives. A former Volunteers in Service to America participant, fair-housing activist and campaigner for Chicago's first black mayor, Sander, who is white, insisted he was simply trying to examine an important question.
Now the professor has waded into another controversy. Sander says his goal this time is to examine whether law schools set up many affirmative action beneficiaries for failure by admitting them into rigorous academic environments in which they are ill-prepared to compete. He proposes to study almost 30 years of data on State Bar of California exam-takers. In the end, he hopes to explain why, as reported in a Law School Admissions Council study in the 1990s, blacks are four times as likely as whites to fail the bar exam on the first try.
The state bar has refused to facilitate his probe. Citing privacy concerns, the bar has denied him access to detailed demographic data collected from exam-takers since 1972.
Many lawyers, scholars and diversity advocates have applauded the bar's action."
Rest of article at link..."In his 19 years as a law professor at UCLA, Richard Sander has pondered a nagging... more
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SDLN
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1 year ago
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How are people saying Obama isan affirmative action case when McCain only got into school and the navy because of his dad?How are people saying Obama isan affirmative action case when McCain only got into... more
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WASHINGTON - Presidential challenger John McCain said Sunday that he supports a proposed ballot initiative in his home state that would prohibit affirmative action policies from state and local governments. A decade ago, he called a similar effort "divisive."
Over the years, McCain has consistently voiced his opposition to hiring quotas based on race. He has supported affirmative action in limited cases. For example, he voted to maintain a program that encourages the awarding of 10 percent of spending on highway construction to women and minorities.
McCain was asked specifically Sunday whether he supported an effort to get a referendum on the ballot in Arizona that would "do away with affirmative action."
"Yes, I do," said McCain in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
The Republican senator quickly added that he had not seen the details of the proposal. "But I've always opposed quotas."
In 1998, a resolution pending in the state Legislature would ask Arizona voters to eliminate most preferences based on race, gender, color or ethnic origin. McCain warned against using ballot proposals to outlaw quotas or racial preferences.
"Rather than engage in divisive ballot initiatives, we must have a dialogue and cooperation and mutual efforts together to provide for every child in America to fulfill their expectations," McCain said.
The 1998 story by the Associated Press said McCain was speaking to a handful of Hispanic leaders in Washington. In his comments, he stopped short of directly criticizing the resolution pending in Arizona.
A spokesman for the McCain campaign said in a statement that the senator has always opposed hiring quotes based on race.
He believes that regardless of race, ethnicity or gender, the law should be equally applied," the spokesman, Tucker Bounds, said. "He has long stood for the protection of civil rights and equal opportunity for all Americans."
For the current effort in Arizona, supporters of the state constitutional amendment banning affirmative action programs have met the filing deadline to get the measure on the November ballot.
The Arizona Civil Rights Initiative filed 334,658 signatures with the Secretary of State's office Thursday, surpassing the necessary number by more than 100,000. State officials are trying to verify that enough signatures are valid to get the initiative on the ballot.
The application for the referendum petition said the proposal would amend the state constitution to prohibit preferential treatment or discrimination by state government, state universities, school districts, counties and local governments to any individual based on race, sex, ethnicity or national origin.
Democratic challenger Barack Obama said he is a "strong supporter of affirmative action when properly structured so that it is not just a quota."
He said he believes a university or college should be able to take into account race as well as economic class and hardship when making assessments about admissions.
Obama said McCain flipped on the issue of putting affirmative action bans on the ballot.
"These are not designed to solve a big problem, but they're all too often designed to drive a wedge between people," Obama said.
On that point, McCain's spokesman did not directly answer whether McCain had changed his views about the wisdom of putting bans on affirmative action policies to the voters.
Bounds said that Obama himself Sunday said that affirmative action is not a long-term solution, but has also said he's a firm believer in affirmative action.
WASHINGTON - Presidential challenger John McCain said Sunday that he supports a... more
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If girls were once excluded because they somehow weren't good enough, they now are rejected because they're too good. Or at least they are so good, compared with boys, that admissions committees at some private colleges have problems managing a balanced freshman class.
Roughly 58% of undergraduates nationally are female, and the girl-boy ratio will probably tip past 60-40 in a few years. The divide is even worse for black males, who are outnumbered on campus by black females 2 to 1.
While educators debate whether there is a "boy crisis" that warrants a wholesale change in how to teach, colleges are quietly stripping the pastels from brochures and launching Xbox tournaments to try to close the gap in the quality and quantity of boys applying.If girls were once excluded because they somehow weren't good enough, they now are... more
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The complex diversity of human ethnicity is a testament to human adaptability and resilience. Our libraries and schools are now filled with volumes written about unique and independent social systems that have coexisted for millennia throughout the planet. There are countless examples to choose from that run the gamut of human kin group possibilities?some egalitarian, some totalitarian. There is not one set standard, from an anthropological or sociological point of view that is constant with regard to marriage, or what constitutes a kin group. There are many complex individual psychological processes at work that cause people to bond and form into groups and the most commonly recognized and studied unit is the family. However, for many people at different times in human history, family has meant different things. What most anthropologists and sociologists do agree on is that in every society each individual has a role to play in the social construction of reality. However the situation that the public at large deals with on a daily basis is how to clearly identify individual roles and how to mediate conflicts arising from everyone?s individual pursuit of happiness; where these conflicts are most evident are in the arenas of gender, class, and ethnicity.
Quote from essay by Jon Jaramillo aka JubalThe complex diversity of human ethnicity is a testament to human adaptability and... more
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jubal
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1 year ago
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In this article from the National Review, Roger Clegg claims that there's optimism for conservative culture warriors. He stakes a lot on victories in three fronts: Affirmative action, immigration, and illegitimate child birth.
Did I miss something? Did Leftists suddenly become pro-illegitimate child? What is this guy smoking?
And where does he pull this stat: "1 in 4 non-Hispanic white children are born from parents out of wedlock"? Is that true?In this article from the National Review, Roger Clegg claims that there's optimism for... more
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has a 15-cent price tag stuck to his Yale law degree, blaming the school's affirmative action policies in the 1970s for his difficulty finding a job after he graduated.
Some of his black classmates say Thomas needs to get over his grudge because Yale opened the door to extraordinary opportunities.
Thomas' new autobiography, "My Grandfather's Son," shows how the second black justice on the Supreme Court came to oppose affirmative action after his law school experience. He was one of about 10 blacks in a class of 160 who had arrived at Yale after the unrest of the 1960s, which culminated in a Black Panther Party trial in New Haven that nearly caused a large-scale riot.U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has a 15-cent price tag stuck to his Yale... more
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Students want diverse campuses. Staff want diverse campuses. Why are the laws making it difficult to turn this into a reality? Students want diverse campuses. Staff want diverse campuses. Why are the laws making... more
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adavis
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added this
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2 years ago
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