Affirmative Action Combats Racism with Racism

As Kenji Hosokawa '98 pointed out in his Opinion piece on January 8, not only Caucasians but also a number of black intellectuals endorse the view that affirmative action "perpetuates African Americans' dependence on the government." There's a reason they endorse it: because it's right. I'd be shocked if people, especially students and faculty here at Dartmouth, weren't appalled by Hosokawa's suggestion that belief in "the strong individual" has disappeared, destroyed by a "modern world [that] no longer resorts to such a platonic vision." The basis of Hosokawa's argument rests in the belief that since individuals are supposedly no longer capable of coping with their own destiny, society must embark on an evangelical mission to ensure that "the number of African Americans who are executives [is] proportionate to the number of African Americans in the population." Forget the idea that they might actually attain that position on their own.