Scott Allan's World

Let’s get something straight. I hate affirmative action. “All Men Are Created Equal” That means all men (and women). It doesn’t say some are more equal than others. I believe affirmative action is a disservice to those who theoretically benefit from it.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I share MLK’s dream. To me this means everyone should be given equal opportunity and rewarded solely by merit and no other measurement, but somehow this has turned into giving affirmative action hand-ups until… well… until somehow all perceived social injustices have been remedied. In other words, it will never end. Does society really gain anything by giving minorities preferential treatment? Taking away a job or spot in college from a more qualified candidate and giving it to a lesser qualified candidate simply because of the color of his/her skin is inherently un-American and I believe un-Constitutional.

Color is hardly an accurate means for deciding that a person has had a social disadvantage that needs to be remedied. When a certain group is told that if even if they have equal qualifications for a position that the job will be given to someone else simply because of their color, the likely consequence in a competitive market is that the members of that group will work even harder to elevate their qualifications above their competition. On the flip side, the group that is told that they will be given the job because of the color rather than their achievement will naturally feel less pressure to excel since the bar has been lowered. Our society needs to strive toward giving equal opportunity and insisting on measuring people based on their merit ad no other valuation.

My son is a minority and did not start speaking English until he was almost 5 years old. He has been in the school’s English as a Second Language program since first grade. When I found out he was failing spelling at the beginning of this year, the school had granted him “accommodations” which basically meant that he only needed to learn 10 new words a week when his classmates had to learn 15 words. Fortunately I successfully argued that I did not see how this made him a better speller by learning 1/3 less words every week. I said, “He’s Latin, he’s not retarded. There is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to learn 15 words/week. ” I believe the school’s intent was to improve his self-esteem at the expense of his education. This story is the exact problem with Affirmative Action. We think we are doing people a favor by lowering the requirements but in reality we are harming them by lowering the standards to succeed or placing them in situations they are not qualified to succeed in.

Now onto the news which has given me the opportunity to vent about affirmative action. U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith has given Jefferson County in Alabama a deadline of April 28 to show why it should not be held in contempt for failing to with a discrimination order given in 1982 from a case filed in the mid-1970s. The ruling was given 26 years ago and the case was filed about 35 years ago. I would argue that equal job opportunity and equal opportunity labor laws do exist for equally qualified candidates. Perhaps that wasn’t true 35 years ago, but certainly there are appropriate laws in place to protect everybody equally. Also we have evolved quite admirably as a nation. At what point will there ever be consensus that the playing field is even? Never. No one is going to willingly give up a handout. Try telling a person on welfare, they’d be better off getting a job.

The intent of the 1982 ruling was “to insure that blacks and women are considered for employment by the county on an equal basis with whites and males and to correct for the effects of any alleged prior discriminatory employment practices by the county against blacks and women.” On the surface that sounds fair to me. Make sure that everyone is on an even playing field. That’s what I’ve been saying all along. Theo Lawson, a Jefferson County attorney, stated the county already has “a non-discriminatory hiring policy.”

The current motion challenging the county contends it,

“Maintained a work force in numerous departments that is inconsistent with the availability of qualified blacks and women for the positions, including using outsourcing of county jobs to independent contractors.”

“Failed to institute an affirmative recruitment program designed to inform blacks and women of job opportunities with the county.”

I do not understand what is the point of such an affirmative recruitment program. Are we saying that blacks and women are incapable of finding out about job openings the same way everyone else does? Is the county supposed to hide job opportunities from white males so they will not apply for the jobs and place job postings in places where only blacks and women can find them? I can’t even figure out if any qualified minority was even denied a job.

When are we going to get past all this nonsense? As long as we continue to categorize and marginalize people in this country, we will never achieve equality.