Occluded Sun wrote:
Exactly how many generations must be propped up by a 'temporary' crutch before we conclude the intervention has failed? (Or more precisely, before you acknowledge that failure.)
Ooh! Ooh! My turn. Tag me in.
The reason I thought you bowed out of this one is that the New York Times published an article on 8/24 (available
here if you have a subscription or haven't hit your monthly quota) talking about how redlining (refusing to grant mortgages to minority applicants for certain areas forcing them into less desirable areas) had a measurable effect
still being felt today!
It turns out that these government-supported policies (until they were removed by government action) are still responsible for the 'wealth gap'. Even as incomes have become more-or-less even (huge caveat there because we're talking people in the same careers which doesn't account for lack of educational opportunities and such which results in a
Racial Wage Gap between different demographic groups), whites have consistently become wealthier.
Now, if you weren't a disingenuous fuck-wit we could talk about what positive things affirmative action has achieved and where it hasn't had great success. If you think Affirmative Action is giving minorities
an advantage (which, it is admittedly designed to do), why would you eliminate it if
Even With Affirmative Action, Blacks and Hispanics Are More Underrepresented at Top Colleges Than 35 Years Ago.
Do you think affirmative action has gone too far? I don't. Remember, it only requires that you choose a minority when choosing between two otherwise equal individuals. It does nothing to ensure or encourage that two individuals will be otherwise equal - it doesn't really address systemic inequality and economic disparity at all.
And EVEN THEN, it's not actually applied in most circumstances. Here's
an article from 2015 showing that 'Connor' is more likely to get an interview than 'Jamal' with an IDENTICAL resume.
I could go on and on because this is a pretty cut-and-dried issue. It turns out that there are no performance differences between members of different races all else being equal. It's the 'all else' part that we as a society continually struggle to get right.
One hundred and fifty years ago virtually every African-American was a former slave.
Fifty years ago virtually every African-American was denied the free exercise of their democratic civil rights.
How long does it take to 'even the playing field'? Maybe it wouldn't take long if we made a serious effort to address poverty and its causes. But it hasn't happened yet. As a society, we've consistently taken the absolute bare minimum step and the whole time shit-stains like you insist that it's JUST TOO MUCH.
You know, Martin Luther King, Jr is celebrated as an inspiring orator. His most famous speech, delivered at the feet of Abraham Lincoln's memorial included this paragraph:
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote:
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
It looks to me like we have a ways to go, yet.
And if you need a reminder, MLK Jr was gunned down for peacefully leading a movement to achieve equal rights that were promised under the Constitution.