And what is this issue? Affirmative action or giving preference to certain groups over others based on race, ethnicity, sex, or any other immutable characteristic.
We all know how blatant preferences are. Proponents of affirmative action like to say that they are just “putting a feather on the scale” when favoring minorities over everyone else. But we all know that it is not a feather being put on the scale but rather a 100-pound anvil.
Just look at admissions to top Ivy League universities. As Peter Kirsanow, a black member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, writes:
“Evidence adduced in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard [a current Supreme Court case] confirms that race wasn’t merely ‘one factor among many’ or a ‘feather on the scale’ [for admission to Harvard College]. Rather, race was determinative for at least 45 percent of all admitted black and Hispanic applicants.”
He continues:
“For perspective on just how determinative race was in the admissions process compared to factors such as grades, SAT scores, etc., consider that for Harvard’s black applicants, the mere fact of their race has a weight comparable to scoring a ‘1’ on the more relevant measures of academics, extracurriculars, and personal rating. How often does the average Harvard applicant score a ‘1’ on those measures? Only 0.45 percent of Harvard applicants score a ‘1’ on academics; 0.31 percent score a ‘1’ on extracurriculars; and only 0.03 percent score a ‘1’ on personal rating. In other words, just the prospective Einstein or Mozart.”
Indeed, to get into Harvard Asian Americans have to score more than 250 points higher on the SAT than African Americans.
And we all know that such blatant discrimination goes on in hiring and promotion decisions, in the awarding of public and private contracts, in scholarship awards, and in almost all other areas of life. This is despite the fact that such discrimination is on its face illegal under the civil rights laws of our country, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Preferences based on race, ethnicity, and sex are a blatant scourge in our country and denigrate the Declaration of Independence’s words that all men “are created equal.” When will a courageous politician finally stand up on this issue and demand that each person should be judged on solely on their competence and character?
We can forget about Joe Biden and the leftist Democrats doing this as they openly support discrimination. They openly think to themselves: “We are going to punish white people for all the evil they did in the past and make them feel like minorities did 70 year ago.”
But even in the hotly contested Republican primary, not one candidate is making preferences an issue. You can hear crickets chirp.
Why are Republicans and other people of good will so afraid to talk about dismantling this discriminatory system of preferences? Because the leftist mob will immediately label you a bigot, a white supremacist, and, worst of all in the pantheon of left-wing slurs, a “Nazi.” But speaking up for the truth—that we were all created with equal worth and dignity by God—should not be controversial. Demanding that we each be judged on our merits is not a Nazi concept; indeed, the Nazis explicitly judged people on their race, ethnicity, and religion. (Among other things, the Nazis slaughtered 6 million Poles during World War II because they were either Jewish or Slavic.)
Will someone finally stand up on ending preferences? Or will we be forever forced to keep our mouths closed on this American scourge that is tearing about our country?
“And the radical LGBT agenda must be defeated.”