Affirmative action ban ruled constitutional

[jimmyz]

[Professor]

[Professor]

[gla22]

[Professor]

[broken robot]

Someone should do an empirical study of the transitions from the OP to the conclusion of a thread in any given PCF topic and what it reveals about the underlying assumptions of a given way of viewing the world. Because on the face of it, the connections appear to have no logic. Case in point: we've jumped from Affirmative Action to African literacy rates before European colonialism.

In my opinion, this dead on reveals the persistent assumption that Africans and their New World descendants are "backwards." Seriously, why are we talking about Africa's precolonial past from the perspective of contemporary US race relations? There's no logical explanation, it has everything to do with the dominant discourse and the continuing attempts to in various ways justify the positioning of blacks at the bottom of the racial hierarchy. As someone else put it, this is why we need Affirmative Action.

I'm waiting for someone to start quoting the bell curve.

[broken robot]

[gla22]

I think the lack of black advancement in the U.S. is about 80% about economic status/history and 20% cultural.

There have been a lot of studies done showing that socio-economic class is primarily dependent on your parent's socio-economic class. African-Americans (being ex-slaves) started with pretty much no status and on top of that had to deal with institutionalized barriers to advancement until about 40 years ago. Because of this I think colleges should give bonuses to children from poor families to encourage class mobility.

Although 80% of the problem is out of the control of the AA community I think they should look at the 20% that is. The AA community is plagued with single parent households, little value for education and bad role models. As much as Jay-Z is a great rapper and a good businessman lets not forget he started as a cocaine dealer. This model to success is 1 in a million. The majority of people following the Jay-Z model end up dead or imprisoned for life. The key to wealth and prosperity for those not born into it is through education and career advancement, becoming doctors, lawyers, computer programmers ect. This is why I face-palm when I see all these 1st generation college poor people whether black, mexican, or white majoring in sociology, or chicano studies, spanish or black studies ect.

[Medius]

The idea of equality has won. Racism is still there, but it is quickly dying. The question is, when you are a society based on a fundamental egalitarian concept, do you re-enforce that concept by pushing always for pure equality in the eyes of the law? Or do you continue tipping the scales for some greater good and build society on the concept of "inequality for the goal of equality"?

Personally, I think it is time to ride the wave, embrace the ideal of equality, and focus on class mobility for everyone, not just a select few.

[Professor]

BTW, I am enjoying how anytime someone is of any opinion other than "blacks need help because of slavery", they are labeled as a racist. If someone says that lack of class mobility is more a factor of personal wealth, or cultural history, or anything else, they are immediately racist.

Let's investigate this. What is the single biggest hindrance to upward mobility? Is it education? Probably. And, what's the single biggest hindrance to education? Is it color of skin? Or, is it socio-economic class? But, because blacks make up the highest percentage of those in the lowest socio-economic classes, we tend to equate them with it. But, they are not the same. Do whites from a bad neighborhood have it easier than blacks from a good neighborhood? Nope.

How about we base things on socio-economic factors, instead of skin color? And, in doing so, happen to help a lot of minorities while we're at it.

Or, am I just being "racist" again?