Many, these days, denigrate affirmative action as a practice that perpetuates African Americans' dependence on the government. This criticism, interestingly, is no longer endorsed just by angry Caucasians; numerous black intellectuals, like Clarence Thomas, also advocate this view. These conservatives say that the federal programs that provide special treatment to ethnic minorities have allowed Caucasians to patronize them, thus preserving dangerous racial stereotypes, such as "blacks are lazy." Instead, it is argued, by weaning themselves from the government, people of color can learn to become self-sufficient, responsible citizens, who would then prove to society that they are indeed as equal as the rest of the American people.
What is remarkable about this view is that it comes from the belief in the strong individual. A significant number of people apparently think that such an abstract Millian philosophy can somehow solve a major problem of this society, namely the racial rift. This, to me, is remarkable because the view obviously ignores the fact that the modern world no longer resorts to such a platonic vision.
Of course, there were times in our history when people's mere ideological convictions created impetuses for social progress. Belief in democracy, for example, united Americans to stand firmly against Communists. However, these times are behind us. As witnessed in the collapse of the Soviet Union and the crumbling state of North Korea, messianic ideologies can no longer sustain social stability. I do not deny that some parts of the world, like Bosnia, still cling to blind ideologies, but in the current West, practicality and rationality serve as the foundation of society. This trend is visible in the U.S. government's recent preconditions for the Most Favored Nation status, most significant of which in the past was human rights, aggressively advocated by many Americans with ideological passion. Now, however, an increasing number of elected officials emphasize practicality, viewing the MFN status as a means to create strong business ties with developing nations that can lead to cultural exchange resulting in the resolution of human rights problems. This is why various politicians, abandoning the belief that there exists an intrinsic value in promoting such rights, are urging the administration to grant the status to China, despite its denial of human rights to many of its people.
Just as most Palestinians care more about their tremendous unemployment than the euphemized goals of their peace talks with Israelis, the vast majority of African Americans are concerned with their material well-being, not with whether or not Caucasians are patronizing them. According to Time magazine, only 6 percent of blacks feel that the government is excessively helping them. As long as there are virtually no African-American high-level politicians or Fortune 500 CEOs, the black community will continue to feel victimized and want help. And this unhappiness surfaces occasionally, as it did during the O. J. Simpson trial, when polls revealed the deep mistrust of the police among African Americans. We need to understand that even if the police eliminated all racist officers, as long as blacks saw that a third of their people in their 20s are incarcerated, on probation, or on parole, many of them would always irrationally conclude that they are being wronged, even if such a reality were inevitable, given the black socioeconomic status in the U.S.
Dinesh D'souza frequently discusses "rational racism." He thinks the use of racial stereotypes to avoid unnecessary risks is justified. No one should accuse a cab driver for not picking up African-American males after midnight, he says. The argument goes that the driver, calculating the chances of being robbed by white and black customers, is only being forced to behave rationally.
In order for society to overcome its racial division, it must allow everyone to live without relying on rational racism. Society can achieve this only by transforming social realities to reflect the expectations of its people. In other words, the number of African Americans who are executives must be proportionate to the number of African Americans in the population (unless you believe in the study showing that blacks are intellectually inferior to Asians and whites). Affirmative action can expedite the attainment of this result. Perhaps, this may enforce white paternalism, but I doubt that most ethnic minorities care; and ultimately the practice will lead to interracial peace.
