Newspapers / North Carolina School of … / March 1, 2004, edition 1 / Page 5
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5 march 2004 opied the stentorian | ncssm Affirmative Action Mr. Russell Robinson I n the spirit of satirist Jonathan Swift, I would like to add another modest proposal in this campus debate on Affirmative Action. Let's abolish Affirmative Action! It's anachronistic and serves as an eyesore on the face of America's unblem ished history. In fact, it has failed to provide any realistic solution to the Grand Canyon that divides the "haves and have-nots." Far too many arguments at dinner tables, shattered friendships and worse, a displaced majority representative class are the only true legacies of this gov ernmental malfeasance. Thus, I offer a modest proposal for the 21st century. As good American citizens, let's work together to make what was once a griev ous wrong a resounding right. Let's revisit our past with a new vision of shaping our future. On this day, on this earth, in this society, I hereby proclaim that American slav ery be officially reinstated. All US Citizens and their heirs of majority representative class shall be placed in a state of physical and mental captiv ity, no less than 100 years, not to exceed 200 years. Understandably, for some, this may be a bit extreme. Therefore, I ask that a grand father clause be instituted so that everyone shall be treated as equal. Ergo, if your great- great grandfather owned slaves, you and your heirs will have an additional 200 hun dred years of indentured servi tude. Meanwhile, the former underrepresented classes will have augmented accessibility to economical, educational, social, and governmental reform for the same duration. • As there will now be one large aggregate in the rul ing populous, the new slave class will be permanently relocated to under developed subsidized housing where the rent will no less than S800.00 per month. In this new struc ture, I also propose an employment stimulation pack age that will put every servant to work; all will work a mini mum of 70 hours per week where your take home pay shall not exceed 100 dollars per week before tax. There will also be a new institution alized health care plan that will provide a maximum 15,000 dollar per year benefit. The deductible, which you will pay before you receive a tongue depressor, will be 100 dollars per visit until the grand total of the deductible is paid in full, 800 dollars. Lastly, I propose a social welfare sys tem that will promote unity and family values. Any mem ber of the slave class has the opportunity to be sold to any family of the ruling class at market rate. On Wednesdays, there will be a two for one sale and on Martin Luther King's birthday celebration; it will be an all out extravaganza! Now as insidious as that may sound and much as it may read like an Octavia Butler novel, this isn't science fiction, it's historical fact. Make no mistake; the middle passage was not a ride on "the good ship lollypop" nor "the Love Boat" promising some Keeping Diversity Bryan Butler [Reprint: Point in point/counterpoint article "Affirmative Action; yes or no?" in Volume IV (June 13, 2003) of The Rush at UNC-CH NCSMA Journalism Institute, updated] A ffirmative action moved to the forefront of the national con sciousness when the Center for Individual Rights filed Gratz vs. Bollinger and Grutter vs. Bollinger. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of white students who were denied entrance to the University of Michigan, stat ing that minority applicants took their spots based on a points system used there. The Supreme Court's decisions, which came in the summer of 2003, upheld affirmative action practices in the University of Michigan law school (in a 5-4 vote) but struck down affirmative action in undergraduate admissions. These two cases before the Supreme Court re-ignited the debate over affirmative action. Though the use of affirmative action was largely supported in the Supreme Court decision, admissions policies around the nation concerning minority represen tation arc still somewhat in danger. Vocal opponents wish to rid the educational (and professional) world of affir mative action. The abolition of affirma tive action policies in college admissions in particular threatens the diversity of this nation and the economic sta bility of minorities while fail ing to aid academic excel lence. This threat is clear in the bans of affirmative action that California and Texas have adopted. At the University of Texas Law School, Hispanic student admissions fell 64 per cent, and African-American student admissions dropped 88 percent after one year. At the University of California's Berkeley campus, admissions of Hispanic, Native American and African-American stu dents fell by more than half Did these bans improve academics at the affected schools? The average grade- point average of students at Berkeley's law school only rose from 3.72 to 3.74. Law School Admission Test scores rose only one point. With these insignificant changes came significant ones: a 46 percent drop in admissions of Hispanics and a 76 percent drop in admissions of African- Americans. Affirmative action in col lege admissions attempts to respond to the basic failure of high schools in urban areas. Trying to establish admissions processes that do not consider race ignores inequalities that exist in America. Despite assertions that all races in the United States are treated equally and that affir mative action is no longer nec essary, racial inequalities thing exciting and new. Many of the historical texts we read discuss the German Holocaust with vivid, stark detail, but rarely do we talk of the African Holocaust, in which by best historical data, 24 mil lion plus people drowned in the abyss of the Atlantie Ocean. Mgrbidity and mortal ity rates were astronomical ■ dpe to disease and at best poor sanitary systems. Of the for tunate ones who made it to dry dock, they were stolen form their family, stripped of their culture, lashed beeause of their language, ripped from their religion and forced at gunpoint to assimilate into an alien culture, a government that legislatively dehumanized them at every turn. You see, once the African was abducted from his homeland, no longer was he a human being in America; he was chattel and his sole purpose was cheap labor. Only because of economic necessity were Africans freed in the United States but after two hundred years of captivi ty, the physical shackles may be removed but govemmental- ly and socially one is forever locked out. From anti-lynch ing laws, to Plessy vs. Ferguson to Brown vs. Board to today, we still have systems that are separate and unequal. Here is a challenge: two peo ple go to a track to run the 100 yard dash. One has on run ning cleats and is in fair to good condition. The other has a backpack of 50 pounds and street shoes. Ray Charles can see who would win the race. But you remove the back pack and give the other runner legitimate training and good running cleats, the contest will be pretty equal. So, should the great great grand children of slave owners be account able for the actions of their ancestors? Until the great great grandchildren are cog nizant of the past and work to reshape the future, my answer is unequivocally yes. Please note: The opinions expressed do not reflect those of any organizations of which I am affiliated. remain. The unemployment rate for African-Americans remains twice that for whites. Compared with college-edu cated white men, their African-American counter parts earn 24 percent less. In 2000, only 14 percent of African-Americans were col lege graduates, compared with 28 percent of whites. Affirmative action has helped to correct these inequalities. According to the US Labor Department, affir mative action has helped five million minorities advances in the workforce. Corporate America demands diversity. Many companies have voiced sup port for the University of Michigan, including 3M, American Express Company and Coca-Cola Company. Companies offer financial support to schools that supply them with Hispanic, Native American and African- American employees. How can a university offer productive ethnic studies classes or hold discussions on racial profiling with a popula tion that is not racially diverse? If opponents of affirma tive action succeed in abolish ing these policies in higher education, decades of effort to make America more inclusive will be undermined, and the cycle of economic inequality that surrounds underrepresent ed minorities will continue. Students performing in Asia Fest Logan Couce Letter to the Editors Amena Ross I was appalled at your decision to print the article, "My Take On Affirmative Action" by Kristoph Kleiner. The article was a grossly biased myriad of incorrect opinions and faulty references. If you want to be taken seri ously as a truly journalistic venue, you need to print arti cles that are unbiased and give the people an uncorrupted view of the topic. It's perfectly acceptable for your writers to have opinions about the topics they write about, but if they decide to present their view in their articles, they NEED TO HAVE REFERENCES AND FACTUAL INFORMATION TO BACK IT UP. Did your writer interview anyone to find the real process for choosing minority students? Did he look at why affirmative action was instituted in the first place? Or did he find the information about WHITE WOMEN bene fiting the most from affirma tive action? And to have-the audacity to run this article, during February, Black History Month, is a true stab in the back by a newspaper claiming to support the views of all groups on campus. I would like to request a retrac tion of this article from you, the Stentorian editors, or at the very least, an apology to the students on campus for run ning an article that atrociously contradicts the idea of diversi ty that is embraced by the NCSSM community.
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Student Newspaper
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