The American Civil Rights Institute’s (ACRI) Jennifer Gratz, plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, Gratz v. Bollinger, defends Ward Connerly as pro-race preference proponents attack his character, because they cannot win on the merits.
(Their concern is well-grounded. ACRI found that 71 percent of Nebraskans say they support an amendment that would end government preferences in hiring, contracting, and admissions.)
The Ballot Initiative Strategy Center (BISC) is one organization resorting to ad hominem, with BISC’s Kristina Wilfore leading the charge. Gratz says such groups have all but given up defending race preferences and instead focus on personal attacks. While ACRI has chosen to ignore such attacks in the past, the organization decided to come forward because “the public needs to understand what we are up against and the despicable tactics that these groups will use…”
Both sides should focus on debating the issue of government preferences rather than attacking those involved in the debate. Gratz is right. The other side is becoming increasingly desperate and disingenuous.
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Truth, race has no place in American Life or Law, but unfortunately it’s all over the place. I am a Christian, 29 year old Black woman with a Master’s Degree. I am in strong opposition when it comes to abolishing Affirmative Action. Although I have been a very good student all of my life, I am aware of the areas in which AA has helped me, first being a woman, second being Black. I would love for every thing to be peachy keen and equal, but it has never been, I wish we did live in a Utopian society, but it isn’t so. My life has consisted of more than just work and school, it is even very hard in social life to compete on the same playing field when people second guess your ability because you are a woman or because you are a minority. I’ve run for pageants, local pageants for the state (TX), and although I and other minority women were just as qualified if not more, than some of the White women who ran in those pageants, we still were not chosen to compete in the finals and one pageant allowed up to about 8 finalists! That was about half of the contestants. Barack Obama has done nothing to make the playing field easier, because he still gets hate chants at RNC rallies, Sarah Palin has done nothing to make the playing field easier, because we still see her as a woman who is running for VP who does not have time to take care of her kids because she’s courting government more, those are individuals with specific cases and they have not made things better for anyone yet. But now that they have become examples of those who are attempting to break the barriers, maybe the doors will open, and our youth will be exposed to more that will help to create a sense of well being for them, but in the meantime, while the Sarah Palins and the Barack Obamas have been priviledged to go to integrated schools due to Civil Rights and Affirmative Action, let’s keep AA here until the day we might actually see some equality, the day we might actually stop seeing hate on everyone’s part.
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