American Equality in Action
I see the ignorant jackass (i.e. conservative) Ross Douthat, in the New York Times this morning with the tired right wing line that it is long past time to see affirmative action come to an end in this country, because, after all, black people have it just great now.
Ross, how about this story:
"BOSTON — Police responding to a call about "two black males" breaking into a home near Harvard University ended up arresting the man who lives there – Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar."
Never mind that he had a Harvard ID, never mind that it was his house, for God's sake, never mind that he is a nationally known and respected professor. They arrested him anyway- can you guess why that might have happened? And in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not Selma, Alabama.
To paraphrase the line from the old TV show, "there are eight million lies in Conservative America- this has been one of them." Thanks for the good work, Ross.
Ross, how about this story:
"BOSTON — Police responding to a call about "two black males" breaking into a home near Harvard University ended up arresting the man who lives there – Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar."
Never mind that he had a Harvard ID, never mind that it was his house, for God's sake, never mind that he is a nationally known and respected professor. They arrested him anyway- can you guess why that might have happened? And in Cambridge, Massachusetts, not Selma, Alabama.
To paraphrase the line from the old TV show, "there are eight million lies in Conservative America- this has been one of them." Thanks for the good work, Ross.
Comments
If someone arrested me solely because I am white I'd be singing "Happy days are here to stay!" because I'd be set for life after I took them to court. If it was a legitimately illegal or racist action, he can sue. After all, isn't that what we do in America?
And institutionally speaking, blacks have it great. So do women. The only group that has a disadvantage is white males. I'd love to see any piece of legislation that shows how whites have a leg up. I can point out multiple institutionalized racism that helps blacks, not hurts them.
Maybe you're right. But, apparently the same wouldn't apply if you were black, since that happens a hundred times every day in this country, and I don't hear that many stories about all of the black multimillionaires out there who got rich because they were arrested.
Doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Also, who is to say that the officer acted illegally or was racist in any way? There are far too many details to determine from either of our standpoints, and I am not about to do 12 hours of digging just to prove a point. The fact of the matter is, even if there are racist individuals in our nation, they are on both sides. We can agree on this at least.
As for affirmative action, whatever happened to equality under the law? There cannot be any institutionalized racism in this country without the practice being unconstitutional. Pass an amendment and then I won't complain. Well, at least not as much.