Judging by the headlines for all of the leading newspapers this morning it would appear that affirmative action has a safe and secure future in higher education. Personally, I have my doubts and with good cause. The two Univ. of Michigan cases illustrate why it is important to read more than just newspaper headlines. This is a Pyrrhic victory for affirmative action (AA) supporters and a weak endorsement of Bakke. Justice Sandra D. O'Connor's opinion makes explicit that AA has a clear sunset provision of 25 years. A sunset provision assures that the "policy of diversity" will no longer be needed after 2028. The Supreme Court simply decided that the state has a compelling interest to promote racial diversity provided it is conducted in a limited and non-mechanical manner. It is extremely ironic that the 2 Justices responsible for the 5-4 decision, O'Connor & Souter, were Reagan & Bush appointees. So, will jubilant supporters of AA after yesterday's ruling publicly thank former GOP Presidents Reagan and Bush for appointing these two legal scholars on the Bench? Unlikely. The Justices' slam dunk on the 2nd UM case involving the automatic awarding of 20 points for applicants which meet a particular disadvantaged race category in undergraduate admissions signals the end of broad range goals. The 6-3 vote overturning the point system was found to be in direct violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and therefore unconstitutional. It is significant also because Justice Stephen Breyer, a Clinton appointee, joined in the majority. I wonder if Breyer will be savagely attacked by the "Negro intelligentsia" like his fellow Justice, Clarence Thomas. Considering Breyer was appointed by the person Toni Morrison describes as our so-called first "Black President", I have my doubts. Professor Morrison, unwavering Clinton supporter, should stick to the areas of fiction which is her expertise, literature and Princeton politics. QED

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2003

Answers

Bill,

Affirmative Action is nothing new except when it come to blacks. It has always been around in white America but it has simply been know by another name. In white America it is called, "The Good Ole Boy System" and is widely know and used. It has also been nepotistic in "who my father is and knows." The present Bush being a perfect example of this. It is only know as Affirmative Action when it applies to minorities and specifically to blacks.

As I have stated several times before I am without apology a Democrat. As far as Reagan or the Bush family is concerned I can think of no reason I have to thank either of them. Because the Supreme Court Justices hold their position for life they eventually are persuaded to do what is right. This is true regardless of the party affiliation they may hold, since it is certain they will be held strickly accountable to the American People whom they serve.

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2003

Bill: I was wondering the same thing. It seems to me that this is back to square 1: Before 1954 Race was considered in the admission of black kids to all schools and the decision was "separate but equal". Personally, I think AA marginalies all black people, saying that we cannot compete unless we are given an advantage. I agree fully with Justice Thomas. Granted that some of us will have to be twice as good, and some will have to work twice as hard, and some may never reach thier full potential without AA; I still oppose AA, and would not accept it for me or my children. One son won an appointment to the US Naval Academy on merit without AA; another is a graduate of Texas A&M Univerity and presently teaches there without AA. My kids were not exceptions. In every endeavor, we have excelled in every profession from which we were barred, without AA. Why do we need AA now? My 14 year-old (A+ Honor roll) will have the college of her choice without, AA. That illustrious English scholar, James Brown expressed it this way, "I don't want nobody to give me nothing, just open up the door and I'll get it myself. Someone from the news media spoke of the few black Astronauts in the space program; the truth is that the percentage of black Astronauts far exceed the percentage of the black population. Does that mean we need AA for white Astronauts?

Off my chest Be Blessed Pastor Paris

-- Anonymous, June 24, 2003

Rev. Paris How do you know if your children benefited from AA or not?

Rev. Greene

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2003

The very intelligent journalist Clarance Page commented in the 1998 PBS Leher News Hour Dialogue on Race that (and I paraphrase), there has got to be some pain involved if we willing to do what is necessary for true diversity in this country. Someone is going to have to suffer to some degree in order for everyone to get a piece of the American pie. He goes on to say that he believes that whites really haven't suffered all that much due to AA. All you have to do is look at particular student bodies, corporate boardrooms, high military offices and departmental faculities to find out what is really going on. As far as I am concerned, I really don't think that we have had meaningful conversations lately about AA due to its divisiveness among race lines. There is too much political dogma shading the real issues of AA. I do think that AA should be modifed so that it becomes a way in which we can open up doors with our own hands instead of waiting for someone to open doors for us. But let us be a little real here. If I own the door, I am going to decide who get's through it, I don't care how good or creative their knock is on the door. So in reality AA is a stepping stone to a bigger actuality of diversity. It does help us get ahead to a large degree. However, we have got to find a way to change some paradigms among those in power as well as those who are are struggling to find their realizations to their deffered dreams. Changed paradigms create changes in policy. How to do it? I really don't know. But I do belive AA is necessary. AA has helped many of us get in "the door" regardless of how qualified we think we were.

As for thanking certian political parties for their seating on the Supreme Court bench the people who voted in favor of AA, I really wouldn't go there. I have my issues with both political parties. In my opinion one beast is slightly better than the other in that one seems to have less incisors in its mouth. But I thank GOD that the verdict was in favor of AA. 'Cause I felt that the only way AA was going to survive was by the grace of God.

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2003

AA is a relatively new thing. My children were the tops in everything because of hard work (Just like dad). I brought my children up in the way they Should go and they have not departed from it. We (my family) will not accept that kind of help. The doors are open and black folk have the ability to compete with anyone even if the field is not level. Benton Harbor, for example, is an opportunity: 25% unemployment, 92% black, governed by black folk. Why not go to Benton Harbor and start a business, assembling computers for example. I sold computers from my home until Dell drove the price too low to be cost effective. A electronics manufacturing or assembly plant would be ideal for Benton Harbor. Or you can talk about what the white folk are doing/have done to you. With the right leadership, Benton Harbor is an opportunity. [Read the book of Numbers, chapter 13. This chapter ends with the 10 spies who wanted AA saying that the giants in the land made them feel like grasshoppers. They had "grasshopper meentality". If you feel that you have to have an unfair advantage to succeed, then you have "grasshopper" mentality. What happened to "I can do all things through God who strengthrens me?" Did he really mean: "I can do all things through God AND AA/"

BE Blessed

Pastor Paris

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2003

Most, if not all of us, who lived and worked in the 1960s or 70s probably benefited from AA. I too was in the top ten percent of my High School class. I then went to Morris Brown and four years later was awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Ed. Morris Brown, being the only school in the Atlanta University Center where the Bachelor of Science Degree was awarded for Music ED All other schools in the Center awarded Bachelor of Arts for Music Ed.

The reason for this is that at Morris Brown there was no such thing as a Minor in Education so in order to teach music a double major was required. Music Education Students were required to take a full load for their entire four years at Morris Brown. This we did on every campus in the Atlanta University Center and there was simply no such thing as nights or Saturdays off. The result was a Bachelor of Science rather than a Bachelor of Arts.

Additionally, students at Morris Brown were also required to pass the National Teacher's Exam as a part of their requirement before being awarded a degree. At some schools this could be done after graduation and the awarding of one's degree. Thus, school systems all over the nation coveted and wooed the students at Morris Brown.

In the mid-1960s when I left Morris Brown, I am almost certain that the rural Georgia system where I was hired was attempting to fill their quotas for blacks. Though I was well qualified for my job that is still AA at work.

In 1972 the system where I worked was mandated to integrated their schools. The State of Georgia accredited the school to which I and other black teachers were transferred but it was unaccredited by SACS because many teachers who worked there previously were uncertified. The black teachers who came were certified before they were hired, so when the system integrated we replaced the teachers who were not.

The next year schools all across the system,for the first time in their history, were accredited by SACS because they now had teachers who were all certified. This still met the mandate forintegration and black quotas as well. Thus, another example of use of AA.

So regardless to what one may think of say without closely examining the facts it difficult to determine if AA has benefited you. As in my own case it can be ever so subtle and one can be well qualified, yet quotas were being met and AA was reason it happened so one benefited from it. Blacks who were well qualified usually met quotas when quotas were in place.

If you could get the very best, what sense would it make to hire someone who was not regardless to whether or not you were hiring to meet quotas and mandates for minorities and blacks?

So many knowingly or not are the product of AA.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2003

I feel that the courts decision upholds the integrity of affirmative action. Affirmative action should never dissolve into quota filling or bolstering applicants chances by giving them more points (or overlooking academic deficiencies) because of minority status. Affirmative action is about ensuring qualified minorities are not discriminated against, not making people qualified because they are a minority.

-- Anonymous, June 26, 2003

INTELLIGENCE

FACT #3: The I.Q.'s of American Negroes are from 15 to 20 points, on average, below those of American Whites. (26) (16) (18) (22)

FACT #4: These Black\White differences have been demonstrated repeatedly by every test ever conducted by every branch of the U.S. Military, every state, county, and local school board, the U.S. Dept. of Education, etc. The same ratio of difference has held true over a 40 year period. (18) (26) (24)

FACT #5: With an average I.Q. of 85, only 16% of Blacks score over 100, while half the White population does. The Negro overlap of White median I.Q.'s ranges from 10 to 25 percent-- equality would require 50 percent. (31) (27) (16)

FACT #6: Blacks are 6 times as likely to have I.Q.'s of 50 to 70 which put them in the slow learner (retarded) category, while Whites are ten times more likely to score 130 or over. (15) (16) (18) (23)

FACT # 7: The U.S. government's PACE examination, given to 100,000 university graduates who are prospective professional or administrative civil-service employees each year, is passed with a score of 70 or above by 58% of the whites who take it but by only 12% of the Negroes. Among top scorers the difference between Negro and White performance is even more striking: 16% of the white applicants make scores of 90 or above, while only one-fifth of one percent of a Negro applicants score as high as 90--a White/Black success ration of 80/1. (27)

FACT #8: Differences between Negro and White children increase with chronological age, the gap in performance being largest at the high school and college levels. (31) (26)

FACT #9: White/Negro I.Q. differences are constantly excused as results of environmental variations. but at least five studies that have attempted to equate socio-economic backgrounds of the two races indicate no significant change in relative results. As environment improves, the Negro does better but so does the White. The gap is not decreased. (26) In fact, extensive research by DR. G.J. McGurk, associate Professor of Psychology at Villanove University, reveals that the gap in intelligence between Blacks and Whites INCREASES where socio-economic levels of both races are raised to the middle classes. (18)

FACT #10: In 1915, Dr. G.W. Ferfuson took 1000 school children in Virginia, divided them into 5 racial categories, and tested them for mental aptitude. On average. full-blooded Negroes scored 69.2% as high as Whites. Three-quarter Negroes scored 73.0% as high as Whites. One-half Negroes scored 81.2% as high as Whites. One-quarter Negroes scored 91.8% as high as Whites. All of these Blacks lived as and considered themselves "Negroes." Their environments and "advantages" or disadvantages were exactly the same. (14) Also see (26) pg 452.

FACT #11: Results of the Army Beta test given by the U.S. Army to over 386,000 illiterate soldiers in WWI showed Negro draftees to be "inferior to the Whites on all types of tests used in the Army." Additionally, tests were conducted upon pure Negroes, Mulattoes, and Quadroons. It was found that "the lighter groups made better scores." (14)

FACT #12: Studies conducted with identical twins raised apart in radically different environments provide conclusive evidence that over-all influence of heredity exceeds that of environment in a ratio of about 3 to 1. (41)

FACT #13: Even when Blacks and Whites have the same backgrounds, in terms of family income and childhood advantages, Blacks still have average I.Q. scores 12 to 15 points lower than comparable Whites. This includes cases where Black children have been adopted by White parents. Their I.Q.s may be improved by environment, but they are still closer to their biological parents than their adoptive parents. (3) (15) (26)

FACT #14: Equalitarian ideologists often discount I.Q. test results with the excuse that they are culturally biased. Nonetheless, NO ONE, not the NAACP nor the United Negro College Fund, nor NEA had been able to develop an intelligence test which shows Blacks and Whites scoring equally. (15) (42) (3)

FACT # 15: American Indians, who often live in conditions far worse than American Blacks during their entire lives, still consistently outscore them on I.Q. tests. (3) (27)

FACT #16: The offspring of interracial marriages tend to have lower I.Q.s than the white parent. (11) (26)

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2003

I am elated that the court ruled in favor of AA concerning the grad program admissions(law school)for UM. Afirmative Action is still needed. I will admit that some tweaking may be done to it. However, when I consider the creative ways and thinking some of our friends have tried to counter affirmative action (e.g. redlining of loans for fair housing, denying agricultural assistance to African American farmers in the late 70's and early 80's, racial profiling, and the all favorite...DWB, I say...all right O'Conner and Souter! Poor Clarence...he again missed the opportunity to correct some things.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2003

Hello Dr. Smith -

Hmmmmm......your facts read alot like assertions. The conclusions you draw about IQ differences between blacks and whites are completely discredited by modern research in biology, economics and mathematical statistics. I would strongly urge that you update your research to incorporate some of the recent work on IQ by the late Harvard paleontologist Stephen Gould and the Brookings Study on intelligence differences. Relying on intellectually suspect IQ studies proferred by William Shockley or the clever neo-eugenics work of Richard Herrnstein & Charles Murray (The Bell Curve) discredits your argument. If membership in Mensa was a predictor of social success why would we need free markets? QED

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2003

In response to Dr. Smith:

A fact that has not been included on that list is that many cognitive deficiencies among African-Americans is a result of racial habit, not biological inferiority. It has not been as much of a habit in the African American community to encourage intellectual development for various reasons that cannot be surmised in a one paragraph post. Those African Americans that have had the opportunity to be challenged, cultivated, and encouraged, have proven themselves to be superior thinkers. Your 'facts' are one sided and give the illusion of inferiority while not addressing the role of racial habit -- a habit encouraged by many social factors that cannot be ignored when attempting to prove or disprove intelligence theories.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2003

I am the executive director of the Montana Hate Free Zone a human rights organization that was founded nine years ago to stop the influx of KKK and aryan nation activity in the state of Montana. We have been very successful in limiting white supremacist activity in our state.

One of the things that I have seen over and over is the list Dr.Smith posted on the board. It is not a new list for it was read to me in the early 1950's when I was student in school. The list has no scientific basis, but is born of racism and separatism. When I was a child it was used to discourage students from trying to go to college.

In the 21st century it is being used to support white supremacist in their efforts to gain demoninance once again. The list is usually adapted to target particular groups ie. blacks, latino, etc.

There is no need for us to defend our intelligence for we as black people have survived, genocide and slavery and have risen to be leaders in the world, We are inventors, doctors, lawyers, and scientists. The next time you are at a stoplight in rush hour traffic please reflect on the many gifts black people have given you. And by the way the traffic light was invented by a black man.

Thank you for posting the list, it shows how far we have come that a list that has tried to stop for 200 years still has no power over us.

One last thing Dr. Smith, the discussion board was put up by a powerful black man, who knew computer language and if you did not know mathematics was born on the continent of Africa.

May the power of God open your eyes to show that we are all his children.

Rev.Denise Rogers St. Paul Community A.M.E. Church

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2003

Thank you Professor Dickens for such an exciting topic. You have sent me to the library on this issue and I promise you that I will present you some data from the National Center for Education Statistics which shows that the numbers of African-American people applying and getting accepted into colleges, graduate school, and professional school is so low that the impact of affirmative action on class size is minimal. Although, a small percentage of blacks get accepted into these programs without affirmative action, most blacks accepted into school by affirmative action do succeed.

For the most part women and other minorities have benefitted from affirmative action more than us black folks. Nevertheless, I would surmise that the opponents of affirmative action are against it because they feel that some individuals have not earned it and are therefore not qualified. Logic would dictate that if you are not qualified to be at a school then you won't successfully complete the academic program. Other arguments against affirmative action would be that it is not fair. Historically, Asians have scored higher on college aptitude tests . In 1978, when I applied to college, A US News&World Report article said that more than half of the entering class of Harvard was Asian and that a " white backlash" was feared as a result of it. Somehow that class ratio has been modified over the years.

Other opposition to affirmative action exists because quite frankly if you give the sons and daughters of Ham a chance they will overcome all odds by the grace of God. Dr. Smith has confirmed with his statements that he believes that we are inferior to all the other races. His methodology is of course not based on the scientific method. Quite frankly, I can understand measuring intelligent behaviour but I don't see how anyone can measure another person's intelligence. How would we determine the intelligence of the writer of the IQ test?

Finally, for those people who believe that another individual or a race is inferior, I would like to leave you with this thought. If you were truly superior like Jesus, others would be lifted up and be better individuals as a result of being around you.

Jazzman

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2003