In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson defended affirmative action by arguing that you could not expect people who had been “hobbled” by years of segregation to compete equally. Today, affirmative action is under attack from several fronts. There are cases in Federal courts challenging racial preferences in laying off teachers, awarding contracts and admitting students. The new Republican majority in congress uses affirmative action to beat up on the Democratic Administration. On the campaign trail, Republican presidential candidates will surely run against affirmative action. And more states are certain to follow California’s lead; where organizers are trying to put an initiative on next year’s ballot banning state-sanctioned “preferential treatment” based on race or gender. . . . → Read More: Race, Gender Gains Anger Some Males
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Much has been written about the scrappy legislator from Georgia, Newt Gingrich, who as the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives intends to ‘change welfare as we know it.’ To that end, the incoming Republican majority in the new congress has drafted legislation, “The Personal Responsibility Act.” Mr. Gingrich has pledged to . . . → Read More: Gingrich May Be Perfect for the Task Recent news of legendary civil rights figure, Johnnie Carr, and retired Air Force general, Charles ‘Chick’ Cleveland taking leadership of One Montgomery, Inc. inspires reflection on the lives of these two very special people. Both, Mrs. Carr and Gen. Cleveland, are well known to many readers of this column. The fact that they were chosen as co-chairs of One Montgomery is no surprise to those of us who know them. . . . → Read More: Distinguished Duo Leads City Group Major Cox and Lani Guinier. Martha's Vineyard, August 1993. Since Lani Guinier’s failed nomination for Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, she has become a celebrity. Ms. Guinier has become so famous that she hired an agent to manage her celebrity. According to an article in the Washington Post, she receives 15 to . . . → Read More: Guinier’s Public Career Not Over Yet It’s time to stop imposing a separate black history upon Americans. Black History Month divides society racially by highlighting a separate systematic account of what happened in the lives and development of Americans with African blood as opposed to the lives of Americans without African ancestry. Black History Month is the manifestation of a . . . → Read More: Time To End Black History Month The number of black children waiting in foster care for adoptive homes continues to grow despite efforts to find more African American families willing to adopt these children. At the same time, the number of white children available for adoption declines, as white families are discouraged from interracial adoption. The only thing that can be said about this issue with any certainty is that adoption practices are on the verge of change. . . . → Read More: Make Adoption Policies Colorblind You hear a lot about Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in the news lately. Martha’s Vineyard is a 100 square mile size island, located off the southern coast of Cape Cod. The population of the island is less than that of Bullock County, Alabama or about 9,000 permanent residents but during the summer tourist season, the . . . → Read More: Summering on Martha’s Vineyard Virginia Durr at her birthday party in 1993 Studs Terkel characterized Virginia Foster Durr in the introduction to her autobiography, Outside The Magic Circle, as a “well brought-up Southern white woman” who stepped outside the magic circle, abandoned privilege, and challenged the traditional Southern way of life. Were it not for Virginia’s work . . . → Read More: A Birthday Tribute to Virginia Foster Durr Cosmas and Damian miraculously transplant the black leg of the Ethiopian onto the white body of the patient. Most people don’t think much about organ transplantation¼ heart and liver transplants in particular. Yet, if you were Robert P. Casey, the 61 year old two-term governor of Pennsylvania, you would have had two years . . . → Read More: Did Casey Cheat Death or The System? Did President Clinton need to sacrifice Lani Guinier, his long time friend and Yale Law School classmate, whom he nominated to head the Justice Department’s Civil Right Division? Were her ideas, as Mr. Clinton claims, “antidemocratic and very difficult to defend?” I think not. I’m reminded of what John Milton, a powerful defender of . . . → Read More: Writing, Thinking, Guinier’s Crimes |
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