| NO, By Thomas Dye |
| YES, by Bill Jones |
Do we still need affirmative action?
YES, for now.
By Neil Jumonville, FSU associate professor, American intellectual history
Ultimately, racial and gender policy in this country will be decided in the political arena instead of by the courts. That political process is underway.
Bill Clinton reflected the public's ambivalence on the issue when he said that affirmative action was still needed but "must be carefully justified and must be done in the right way."
Important points in the current political climate:
First, the early years of affirmative action, under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, were about equal opportunity, not equal results. Those earliest policies were mandates that federal contractors could not discriminate.
But, increasingly since the early 1970s, affirmative action has been about equality of results.
Recent court decisions appear to be trying to restore the 1960s intentions of affirmative action. That seems consistent with current public opinion.
Yet we can't fool ourselves that we currently live in an equal-opportunity society. Affirmative action must continue for the foreseeable future - and probably with stronger programs than merely active recruitment of minority applicants.
Second, because affirmative action is painful doesn't make it the wrong policy. There is no way to undo discrimination without hurting someone. So, like soldiers facing sacrifice for the good of the country, white males need to accept some temporary pain in the present in order to produce a society of open opportunity in the future.
Third, while a temporary helping hand in the economic and political realm is justified, if blacks or women extend their agenda radically in the cultural arena, it will only produce resentment in the majority of Americans.
Afro-centrism and cultural separatism, when added to economic and political help for blacks and women, will overload the cart and make it collapse.
Finally, we need to remember that affirmative action is not simply a black-white struggle. It is primarily a male-female conflict. More white males are displaced by women than by members of minority groups.
So, angry white males, be consistent. Either ease up on African-Americans, or else also complain about the person across the dinner table - who also benefits from affirmative action.