Archive for Column
In the late 1960s, college students rioted and stormed administration buildings, protesting everything from the Vietnam War to freedom of speech violations to the paucity of black students, faculty and programs on campuses. If you were around then and thought some, most or all of those protests were over-the-top, you might want to add the brouhaha at the University of California at San Diego to the list.
Last month, a black comedian calling himself Jiggaboo Jones organized a party for his fans in the area, dubbed “Compton Cookout” (toned down from “Nigga Nite”). Attendees, who included students from UCSD, were encouraged to wear “ghetto” attire, short nappy hair, gold teeth and speak loudly in substandard English. On the menu: chicken, watermelon, Kool-Aid and malt liquor. Sources erroneously reported that the off-campus party was organized by UCSD’s Pi Kappa Alpha, a white fraternity.
Members of the Black Student Union heard about the party, raised a ruckus and condemned the “racist” frat for supposedly mocking Black History Month with embarrassing racial stereotypes. The school’s humor publication in turn mocked the protestors and pointed out that UCSD’s Black Alumni Association scheduled a “Kool Aid ‘n’ Chicken” dinner the same month (since removed from the site). The student publication also used a racial slur on a student-run TV program. Consequently, UCSD and the student government shut down the TV station and froze funding for 33 student media organizations. (FIRE is on the case.)
Read the rest at Townhall.
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One idea that transcends political lines is that blacks are inferior and should be held to lower standards in perpetuity.
In 2007, the Department of Justice (DOJ) under George W. Bush filed suit against the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) for violating the Civil Rights Act. The Vulcan Society, a fraternal organization of black firefighters, joined the lawsuit. Did the department hire and fire based on race? Did it deny promotions based on race? No. The department requires all candidates seeking employment, regardless of race, to take an exam that assesses “reading comprehension, problem solving, spatial recognition and applying rules to general concepts.” For reasons that will be discussed and debated until the end of time, blacks as a group don’t score as well as whites on such tests.
Last summer, a federal judge ruled that FDNY discriminated against blacks and Hispanics with an exam used in 1999 and 2002. Two weeks ago, the same judge ruled that New York City intentionally discriminated against minorities by continuing to use the exam.
Read the rest at Townhall.
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Update (1/5/09): Nice Instapundit link to the Berkeley High article.
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On international science tests, American students perpetually lag behind their peers in other developed countries. A logical response might be to beef up science programs in government schools, but logic is hard to come by in skin-deep-only-diversity-obsessed bureaucracies.
One school seeks to do the opposite, and for the most insulting of reasons. Berkeley High’s School Governance Council, a body of teachers, parents, and students, proposes to eliminate before- and after-school science labs at Berkeley High School (BHS) and divert resources to narrowing the intractable racial academic achievement gap. According to the East Bay Express, an alternate parent representative on the council said “information presented at council meetings suggests that the science labs were largely classes for white students,” although black students take science classes. One teacher said she has 12 black male students in her Advanced Placement classes, and black and Hispanic students account for a third of her four environmental science classes.
BHS purportedly has the widest racial academic achievement gap in California, which the council deemed “unconscionable.” Depriving students of science lab instruction because the labs benefit mostly white students apparently isn’t unconscionable.
Read the rest at Townhall.
Happy New Year, everybody!
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California legislators ought to carry a copy of the state constitution in their pockets and refer to it when writing laws. It’s a useful guide, laying out what the people have a right to do and what the government shall not do. For example, Article I, Section 31 reads in part:
“The State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”
Thirteen years ago, 54 percent of voters passed Proposition 209, which added this language to the state’s constitution. But legislators either are unaware or they just don’t care. The latest attempt to circumvent the law is requiring race- and sex-based quotas in contracting. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who swore to uphold the constitution, signed into law a bill that directs state departments to award government contracts to the lowest responsible bidder subcontracting 15 percent of the work to minority-owned businesses and five percent to female-owned businesses. The contractor who fails to do so will be rejected, even if he’s the lowest bidder.
Read the rest at Townhall.
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Thirteen years after California amended the state constitution to bar the government from discriminating against or preferring individuals or groups in admissions, contracting, and hiring, on the basis of race and sex, courts still are eradicating discriminatory provisions from the code. Proposition 209 passed with 54 percent of the vote.
Earlier this week, Sacramento Superior Court ruled part of the state health professional scholarship program unconstitutional. On the books before Proposition 209, Health and Safety Code Sections 128330(g) and 128345 read in part:
“‘Underrepresented groups’ means African-Americans, Native Americans, Hispanic-Americans, or other persons underrepresented in medicine, dentistry, nursing, or other health professions as determined by the board.”
Read the rest at Townhall.
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Colleges and universities either prohibited by law from factoring race into admissions decisions, or those that prefer a subtler approach to admitting applicants based on race, do so by measuring personality, leadership qualities, life experiences, creativity, resilience, and other “noncognitive” factors.
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, some schools claim that using noncognitive assessments are improving minorities’ odds of admission. No kidding? Northeastern University in Boston has gone so far as to develop the Torch Scholars Program to assess “leadership potential” and evaluate how an applicant has “overcome adversity.” As expected, average SAT scores for the program’s so-called scholars are 200 points below the typical student.
Read the rest at Townhall.
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An excerpt from my latest Townhall column:
“The problem began 38 years ago in a Supreme Court case called Griggs v. Duke Power Co. Black applicants disproportionately lacked required diplomas and/or failed the employment tests. The court held that for purposes of hiring, both requirements violated the Civil Rights Act. If an employment practice is “facially neutral,” it’s suspect if it has a disparate impact on members of a protected class, even if there’s no discriminatory intent. To avoid liability, businesses would have to demonstrate that such tests are job-related and a justified business necessity.
“Disparate impact puts employers in a bind. Unless all races score equally on racially neutral tests, they’ll likely face litigation. Generally speaking, blacks tend to score lower on standardized tests than whites (which doesn’t mean blacks deserve special treatment as a result), so as long as such tests are used, employers must lower standards (which also would benefit non-black test-takers) and/or manipulate the results to avoid lawsuits.”
Read the rest at Townhall.
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You know the times they are a-changing when the liberal Los Angeles Times implies it was unfair to deny white firefighters promotions on account of race.
Last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Ricci v. DeStefano, a case in which over a dozen white firefighters and one Hispanic filed suit against the city of New Haven, Connecticut, claiming racial discrimination. In the name of “affirmative action,” the fire department decided that Frank Ricci and other firefighters who scored high enough on the promotions test would not be promoted, because no black firefighters qualified for promotions.
Read the rest at Townhall.
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It looks like another set of judges has found a way around the will of the people.
In 1996, 54 percent of California voters said yes to Proposition 209, a constitutional amendment barring state and local governments from granting preferences to and discriminating against individuals or groups in public employment, public education, or public contracting based on factors like race and sex.
On March 17, California’s First District Court of Appeal ruled that the Berkeley Unified School District’s student assignment plan, which takes race into account, does not violate California’s ban on racial preferences.
Read the rest at Townhall.
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New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci did what he was supposed to do. He bought the recommended books and studied for a promotion exam. Despite his dyslexia, Ricci scored high enough to qualify for a promotion, but the department threw out all test results. No blacks and only two Hispanics scored high enough to be promoted.
Over a dozen white firefighters and one Hispanic filed suit against the city in 2004, claiming it violated their constitutional rights and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against them based on race. Had the fire department certified the test results, however, the lower scorers likely would have sued the city under Title VII’s “disparate impact” provision. The fire department was damned if it did and damned if it didn’t.
Read the rest at Townhall.
Update: Naturally, the NAACP sides with the city in the Ricci lawsuit. Twelve black New Haven firefighters asked for the NAACP’s support.
“Historically, as African-Americans, we don’t do as well on strictly written exams,” said Donald Day, retired firefighter and former regional director of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters. “Some of the worst officers you’ve ever had were ‘book smart’ officers.”
That may be true, but standardized written exams (a reasonable screening process) are required for a number of professions, including lawyers, doctors, and pilots. Can you imagine if they started dropping standards just to make sure there is an arbitrary percentage of blacks in these professions? There’d be chaos!
I’m waiting, patiently, for some person or group to seriously suggest lowering the standard of entry for pilots or surgeons!
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