<p>I missed this thread earlier. What a marvelous discussion–positively the best thread on race I’ve ever read on CC. Some of the writing is breathtaking…Dross, NSM, poet, sybbie, dab and others. I’ve loved reading about the intellectual journeys–journeys taken back and forth–between personal reflections and larger civic outcomes and possibilities.</p>
<p>If the easy comaraderie I see among my sons and their friends is any indicator, then, by and large, the bitter legacy of the past is evaporating with each integrated generation. Before reading this thread, it hadn’t occured to me that AfAms gave up a measure of cultural respect for education as part of the bargain for desegregation and civil rights.</p>
<p>I’d love to be able to tell Dross to drop his guard, but I don’t dare. Circa 2006, the mainly white upper middle to upper levels of American society seem obsessed with gaining that last inch for themselves and theirs–even though they might be sitting on the top of the pyramid already. CC is one by-product of that super competitiveness. Imagine such a thing as CC in the 1960’s! Keen attention serves you well in an environment like the current one. Stay keen would be my advice.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I think it’s too early to toss out Affirmative Action initiatives. It is a worthy experiment, meant to address the crimes of the past–crimes which cause individuals the pain so vividly described in the posts above. Though it has flaws and hardly stands up to the withering competitve atmosphere of 2006, I hope it continues for another fifty years, two more generations.</p>
<p>Like mini, I think it is good for society to see and come to know high-achieving African Americans. How they got there be damned.</p>
<p>For example, I’m a Condi Rice fan even though I dislike her politics–and her boss. I can’t help myself, I’m rooting for her to pull out some miracles in the latest crisis. Would Condi have garnered her credentials at Stanford without affirmative action? Doubtful. I’m glad Stanford gave her a boost.</p>
<p>I’m even glad the Jebbies gave Clarence Thomas a boost even though there’s nothing about the man that I admire. </p>
<p>Why the laws of pure meritocracy are applied to Affirmative Action when they are hardly applied anywhere else is disingenuous thinking and a smokescreen for latent racism, in my opinion. My family emigrated to the US in 1642. We’ve had dozens of generations of middle to upper class successes–many of which were built on the back on non-meritocratic foundations; ie who you know and what you know because of who you know. Are you tempted to sue me when you find out that I have a huge stack of non-meritocratic options at my fingertips? No. You might pound sand, but you wouldn’t turn to the courts for goodness sakes. </p>
<p>I don’t see the problem in offering slightly non-meritocratic funding to a group that deserves it and needs it. If the experiment works and the funding and hiring accelerates the build-up of meritocratic and non-meritocratic assets for AfAms, then all the better for all of us.</p>