by lbarber on 10/20/2011
in Column
Liberals just can’t tolerate a race-neutral government, arguably the best and least intrusive way to keep racial discrimination at bay. But we racial preferences opponents commended Governor Jerry Brown earlier this month for vetoing SB 185, a bill that would have restored racial preferences in California.
State Senator Ed Hernandez introduced the bill earlier this year to authorize the University of California and California State University systems to consider race in admissions, despite a law barring the practice at taxpayer-supported schools. Fifteen years ago, 54 percent of California voters approved Proposition 209, a constitutional amendment that 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.
To the lay eye, the language is clear and plain. To a lawmaker’s eye, the language is ambiguous, fluid, and subject to the whims of interest groups. Various groups have challenged the law, and California’s highest court ruled six to one that Proposition 209 was constitutional. Groups opposed to racial neutrality in government march on.
Read the full article.
by lbarber on 03/12/2010
in 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.
by lbarber on 01/26/2010
in Column
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.
by lbarber on 12/31/2009
in Column
Update (1/5/09): Nice Instapundit link to the Berkeley High article.
***
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!
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.
