Race-based admissions and true diversity
I've deliberately avoided posting on the recent affirmative action lawsuits and speeches, because so many other have commented about it in much more elegant and succinct ways that I ever could. If you haven't read anything on it, start with President Bush's official statement on the Michigan lawsuit, which Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell respectfully disagree with, in part. Must be that single-minded "vast right-wing conspiracy thing" - and don't they know that dissent is "crushed" by the Bush administration?
Next, go read President Bush's MLK Day speech, and contrast that with Hillary Clinton's abominable "Race is your character" speech in the Bronx. So much for the Reverend Dr. King's dream to be judged on character, not skin color. As the OpinionJournal put it, "Oh well, it was only a dream".
There are plenty of good articles related to the affirmative action controversy that don't toe the outraged-liberal, low-expectations line - Tom Bray of SFGate, John Leo of US News and World Report, Richard Cohen of the Washington Post, Edward Blum and Michelle Malkin of the Jewish World Review, Bobby Eberle of FrontPageMagazine, and David Frum of National Review. Each of these authors make an eloquent case for removing the "soft bigotry" of lowered expectations, and for judging college applicants on true ability to both contribute to and benefit from the college experience, rather than rewarding them for the color of their skin. Larry Elder provides a great Booker T. Washington quote in his December 27th JWR article:
In 1901, three decades after the emancipation, Booker T. Washington said, "When a Negro girl learns to cook, to wash dishes, to sew, to write a book, or a Negro boy learns to groom horses, or to grow sweet potatoes, or to produce butter, or to build a house, or to be able to practise (sic) medicine, as well or better than some one else, they will be rewarded regardless of race or colour (sic). In the long run, the world is going to have the best, and any difference in race, religion, or previous history will not long keep the world from what it wants.
Or as Larry puts it, "Hard work wins." Let's get rid of affirmative action at the college level and concentrate on giving all schoolchildren the opportunity to perform up to their potential. Giving extra points for race at the college admissions level is profoundly insulting, dishonest, and racist. Applicants deserve better.
Bottom line - if we're going to award points in any situation based on race, I think we should start with this. My city is still hurting from Sunday's fiasco, darn it.