Affirmative Action and the Politics of Race

There are many issues in American politics that are extremely complicated. Issues like abortion, stem-cell research, and Iraq. I certainly have strong opinions about each of these, and I think there are parts of these issues that are simple as well (i.e. partial birth abortion). However, some issues are just very easy, particularly to the American people. Newt Gingrich tries to expand upon these in his new book Real Change. One of these issues is affirmative action.

Though this has been voted down repeatedly, even in our most liberal states, it still remains in our system. It is increasingly unpopular, supported only by members of the hard left and race baiters. I truly feel like this is an easy issue, and can be broken down as such.

Now first off, is it effective? If it was effective, they maybe we could argue that reverse racism is the answer to the problems of the lack of minorities in higher education. However, this just isn’t the case. In fact, it seems like the only group of people who haven’t been the beneficiaries of affirmative action (or racial preferences) is the one group succeeding the most. Asian-Americans, more specifically Japanese-Americans, do the best. By population, they get the most graduate degrees, have the most success, make the most money, and have the lowest rate of children born out of wedlock. Remember, Japanese-Americans were extremely discriminated against, even placed in internment camps just 60 years ago. They overcame this, worked hard, and quickly moved up the classes in America. There is no Jesse Jackson in the Asian community.

Consider this simple analogy of affirmative action. A white guy and a black guy apply for a job. The guy giving the job gives it to the white guy despite the black guy being more qualified. What would happen in this country? There would be riots. People would freak out, the court system would compensate the black guy, and Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would make the Jena Six movement look like a Girl Scout picnic. So why is this allowed to happen in favor of the black guy? Or Hispanics? Or women?

Now, I should make something known. If I apply for college, and an inner-city, low-income black student from the devastated part of New Orleans applies as well and we have about the same grades and he gets in over me, I’m not going to freak out and throw a fit. But if Al Sharpton’s son is in my position and an inner-city, low-income white student doesn’t get in ahead of him despite having better grades, a higher SAT, and better academic standing…I may be upset. And yet this is happening all the time.

Dinesh D’Souza makes the point that it is simply impossible to have a system like this in a country as diverse as America. What percentage minority do you have to be? How long ago must you have been oppressed? Remember, every race and group was oppressed at one time or another.

So what should we do about this? Well for one thing, Republicans need to make an issue of it. They won’t; they’re already branded as the party that hates black people, but they should. It’s an easy issue to win on, good politically, and it forces Democrats to support something that is a losing issue for them.

Slowly this issue will go away, but only after being here for many years. Minority and women students (who make up roughly 80% of the population by the way) are repeatedly told; you are oppressed, you are discriminated against. Be upset. Demand repercussions. If you fail, don’t worry, it’s not your fault. Asian-Americans learned long ago that this was pointless. There are times when things aren’t just, you deal with it and move on. These instances should be dealt with on an individual basis.

The question is, why do Asian-Americans do so well and African American students so poorly? None of this has to do with race. It can be broken down further. Japanese children born out of wedlock: 2%. African-Americans: 70%. Whites and Hispanics are somewhere in the middle. If liberals want to do something about minorities not doing well in higher education, they should focus on things like welfare reform and divorce laws. It’s also important to keep something in mind. In the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, the out-of-wedlock birthrate for blacks was about 20%. And that was a mere 70 years after slavery ended. So how did it get worse as blacks got further from the slave years? It’s a long and complicated answer, but it does show us that this issue is not about oppression.

This will never be admitted of course. It is too ingrained in the feminist and minority movements that they are victims. This will continue as a result of white guilt. I agree with Bernard Goldberg’s take on all this. He quotes Tom Izzo (head coach of Michigan State University) as a supporter of affirmative action. So why, Goldberg contends, does Izzo not put this into practice with his basketball team? Currently, Michigan State is made up 6 white players out of 15 total players. Whites make up roughly 70% of the population and over 80% of the state of Michigan. Should we apply these standards to the MSU basketball team? No, of course not, most sane people would argue. These players put in a lot of time and energy to get where they are, and they are rewarded by being on the basketball team. I’m sure Tom Izzo would never give away spots from people who deserved them to people who didn’t.

And neither should our country.