In "Confronting Reverse Racism" [The Dartmouth, May 6], Adam Siegel '98 points to Ward Connerly, the man spearheading the drive to abolish affirmative action programs in California, as an example of why these programs are no longer necessary. Echoing Connerly's own words, he argues that, because a few black men have overcome the odds to succeed, it is clear that all can if they only work hard enough.
Much of the backlash against Connerly and other black men who have attacked affirmative action is not so much because of their political ideology, as Siegel alleges, but rather because they hold themselves as examples of why programs to help other people of color and women are no longer necessary.
By Connerly's reasoning, it becomes necessary for people of color to be twice as qualified and work twice as hard as their white counterparts in order to succeed. Few will deny that racial discrimination is still a problem in this country and that, due to various histories of discrimination, ethnic minority groups have disproportionate rates of impoverishment. Eliminating affirmative action programs ensures that only a few highly intelligent and/or economically privileged people of color will have the opportunity to reach high-level positions, thus perpetuating the current economic stratification by race.
The argument that the problem is not racial discrimination but rather the African-American work ethic takes responsibility for rectifying past wrongs and contemporary racism away from whites and places it squarely on the shoulders of blacks. If Connerly's contention is taken to its logical extreme, then the success of Frederick Douglass demonstrates that slavery was not truly a problem. Although born as a slave, Douglass managed to learn to read and write, to escape from slavery, to write an autobiography that is still used in classrooms today, and to become a leader in the abolitionist movement. Why couldn't all other slaves do the same?
In addition, while Connerly attacks the use of affirmative action programs based on race, he has not only listed his business as "minority-owned" in order to receive preferences in government contracting but, while serving as a University of California Regent, he also used his influence to get two less qualified students admitted.Connerly's actions illustrate the way that large numbers of college admissions and high-level positions are "earned" in this country: connections. At Dartmouth, an alumni connection proves helpful in guaranteeing admittance, an asset primarily benefiting white students. Also, because 85 percent of available jobs are filled by word of mouth and whites hold 90 percent of the managerial positions in private industry, many of the benefits of family networks for jobs will continue to accrue to other whites. Affirmative action is an attempt to level the so-called "playing field."
It is clear that women and people of color are far from achieving equity in the workplace. For every dollar earned by a white man, white women make 80 cents, black men make 73 cents, black women and Latino men make 63 cents, and Latinas make 56 cents. When age and levels of training are controlled, men of color and women still make less money than their white male counterparts. While white men are only one-third of the population, they are 97 percent of Fortune 1000 senior managers, 88 percent of tenured professors, 85 percent of partners in major law firms, and 97 percent of school superintendents.
The continuation of affirmative action programs is vital to ensure that people of color and women will be able to overcome institutionalized discrimination and succeed in the future. As a direct result of affirmative action, women physicians have doubled in numbers over the last 25 years from 7.6 percent to 16.9 percent, and black professional women have increased by 125 percent. The large remaining gaps demonstrate that affirmative action is desperately needed as long as the disparity of resources and opportunities continues.
If you believe that the continuation of affirmative action programs is necessary to help create equality of opportunity for historically disadvantaged groups, you can do more than merely attend panels or read columns in The Dartmouth. This summer is the perfect time to act.
Groups are now mobilizing for Freedom Summer '96, which will be the largest voter registration and education drive since Freedom Summer '64, when Northern college students traveled to the South to register black voters and proved instrumental to passing the '60s civil rights legislation.
Hundreds of college students will travel to California in an attempt to defeat the California "Civil Rights" Initiative (CCRI), a ballot initiative to be voted upon in November's election. This initiative proves to be neither civil nor right. While the initiative adopts much of the language of civil rights legislation and of the equal protection clause of California, the CCRI eliminates the vital words crucial to any protection of rights.
Clause C of the CCRI states that "Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide occupational qualifications based on sex which are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." Once discrimination protection is minimized to "reasonably necessary occupational qualifications," discrimination cases will only be subject to the lowest level of scrutiny under the law. The CCRI makes discrimination against women in admittance, the administration of education, and in sports legally acceptable.
Though the CCRI is a California state amendment, it is part of a sweeping theme of legislation to dismantle the rights of women and people of color. Similar measures have been proposed in 15 other states. California is a prime bell-weather state and bodes of national trends. For example, the ideas of the successful Proposition 187 were translated into national anti-immigration legislation recently passed by Congress.
The far-reaching effects of the CCRI mean that political activity this summer and at the polls in November will determine the future of education and hiring. Our generation will bear the brunt of this possible detour and reversal of the civil rights protection for which our parent's generation bitterly fought.
The summer of 1996 is a history lesson in the making. Both sides of the battle are funneling energy into California to influence the direction of civil rights protection. The pro-CCRI supporters, like Connerly, are pouring money into deceptive publicity campaigns, while the civil and women's rights activists hope to register voters to vote down the CCRI. Because each vote is critical, blocking the CCRI hinges on the efforts of college students who are willing to spend a few weeks, a month or a whole Summer or Fall term working against the initiative.
