Ennui

I am not sure how this post is going to turn out. There is sadness, frustration and, yes, resignation flowing through my thoughts and I am not happy with any of those emotions.

Is the sadness a result of the knowledge that most Americans are willing to accept what those in DC are feeding us? A consequence of years of misinformation from both the White House and Congress that we have gotten to the point of “accepting those things [we] cannot change”? Or, the realization that we CAN change them, but are too lazy to do so? What happened to the American Spirit? Yeah, sure, we make snarky, sarcastic remarks about the policies and lack of same of the Ego in Chief. We yell at the TV when yet another insane proposal is made by a member of Congress that we know will never see the light of day or Barry acts like a little child by refusing to meet with our most treasured ally in the Middle East because he chose to talk to a joint session of Congress without permission. We sigh at the announcement of more committees to investigate the findings of other committees that were formed to decide if the very first committee’s findings were just partisan hogwash. Then we let them spend money that we really don’t have to fund said committees, bitch about the national debt under our breaths and bemoan the fact that we can do nothing about it.

Trust me. I am no better than any other American. I bitch, piss and moan right along with the rest of you. I wrack my brain trying to figure out what my one voice can do to change what our nation has become. Talking to the television has become second nature. My dogs think I’m nuts. No, not nuts. Just frustrated. I believed our Constitution would not allow us to get to this point. I believed that those we voted into office would respect the most important document in the history of our great nation. Instead, most of those in DC seem to spend time emulating the NFL – trying to figure out how to run plays that avoid the defensive line our forefathers built to save us from what we have become so that they can score points for their personal campaigns. Just another check in the “win column” so that they can use that to hold on to their cushy government jobs and become Legacies in the DC world. Short of leaving our homes and parking our butts on their doorsteps 24/7 (which seems not to work well, either) what recourse do we have? Do I sound defeatist? Perhaps. I really am not that kind of girl. Believe me, I have been reading and studying a lot over the past few years. The only power we seem to have, short of physically removing those who seem determined to ignore the will of the people and undermine the good works our forefathers did, is the power of our words. However, if our words are crumpled into a ball and thrown in the trash time after time after time, who among us is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice and eradicate the cockroaches in the cupboard? Very few, I believe. We talk a good game. Then, we look at our comfy couches, flat screen TVs, fairly well-stocked pantries and sedentary lives and say to ourselves “Do I really want to jeopardize all of this for freedom?”

Freedom. Ha. Are we truly free when our government can tell us that we count less than those who cross the border illegally? That we should accept the fact that many American citizens will lose their jobs to H1B rated illegal workers who have been given Social Security numbers and drivers’ licenses? That the illnesses our children are contracting are just minor inconveniences we must endure in order to have a more affordable work force? Allow me a moment of immaturity. I have heard people labeled “stupid” because they believe the more recent epidemics of diseases that had been wiped out in America are the result of unvaccinated children crossing our border. You are “stupid” if you believe this is not the case. Immaturity moment has ended. Will those immigration advocates be so protective over illegals when the M13 roles double and triple in hard hit inner city communities and the death tolls rise, or will they join the rest of us in demanding better border security and a larger police presence in those areas? No, they will join in making more videos and organize demonstrations demanding the death of police officers. I used to criticize the police for accepting “toys” from the federal government – things that seem like overkill (pardon the pun) in small towns that previously knew nothing of violent crimes. I even deduced that they could be used if the Anointed One decided to declare Martial Law based upon some manufactured national crisis. That is a belief I still hold in the back of my mind, but after Ferguson I can sort of understand the desire of smaller police organizations to own equipment that can compensate for the lack of personnel if serious situations arise. Sort of…

Because Americans are constantly being pitted against one another based on race, ethnicity and religion day after day by the likes of Holder, Sharpton and Obama (and a whole host of others), we are ignoring one of the biggest threats to our nation since 1993. ISIS is not a threat to us since they are predominantly in Syria and Iraq? Really!?!? I am sure the rookie cops who were attacked by the man screaming “Allahu Akbar” and wielding a hatchet might disagree. Perhaps those who survived Fort Hood would have a thing or two to say about that. Or how about the family of the soldier killed at the Recruitment Center in Arkansas? The list can go on and on. Is it possible that the level of ignorance in the White House is so great that they believe one ocean will stop them dead in their tracks and put a halt to any violence in the United States? Does what people did 800 or 500 years ago in the name of Christ really even out the playing field? I guess we are supposed to accept the rapes, live burials, beheadings and burnings of live human beings because Christians committed heinous acts centuries ago. Just forgive and forget. We had our time, this is theirs. My inner angry woman keeps asking, “Is it January 20, 2017 yet?” I don’t know if our Republic can hold on that long.

It is sad that recalling the days of Jim Crow, Watts, Internment Camps during WWII, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the Sandy Creek Massacre in Colorado can be used time and again to classify us as a nation of hate and divisiveness, but we are Islamophobic when we mention the crimes against humanity committed by ISIS. Sorry, Barry, I would rather be classified an Islamophobe than declared dead after a terrorist attack on US soil – which is inevitable and a lot more imminent than you think. I agree that what has happened to minorities in our nation, or original citizens such as the Native Americans, were horrific. We have worked hard as a nation to correct those wrongs. Not perfect yet, but we have come farther than many other nations in the world to mend our wounds. Although, you seem to be doing all you can to destroy the good we have accomplished. We need to concentrate on the threats of today, not the mistakes made in the past, if we want to survive as a nation. But, I have resigned myself to the belief that you truly dislike America.

This may sound like a strong statement. Maybe if you, just once, sounded sincere when you talk about protecting us and our most treasured way of life I would not feel that way. Perhaps if you stopped blaming the past and started fighting for the future for the sake of our children and grandchildren, I would excuse you for some of your lack of enthusiasm. Sadly, I stand by my statement that you dislike America. You seem to want a Saul Alinsky “paradise”. Those who choose not to educate themselves may think this would be a perfect world if their only source of information was the wide-eyed oratory of cult-like liberal Alinskyites. However, his world is not much different from that of Lenin or Stalin and I WILL get up off my dead ass to protect my child, my husband and my country from the horror of a future like that. Mark my words…

Affirmative Action – Stepping Stone or Stumbling Block?

This is a paper I wrote for my American Government class in 2012.  Given the recent ruling by the Supreme Court regarding the issue of Affirmative Action, I thought I would share my thoughts with you.  It is well cited, so I suggest any reader should access the links provided in the Works Cited section before commenting 🙂

Affirmative Action – Stepping Stone or Stumbling Block?

Katrina L. Velsor

POS-111/500: American Government

Professor Meredith McKee

November 15, 2012

 In 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order (EO) 10925 that mandated equal opportunities for employment in the Government sector “without regard to race, creed, color or national origin” (Teaching American History.org, 2012). It also prohibited discrimination when awarding government contracts to civilian contractors. At the time, sex was not included under what was later to be known as Affirmative Action (Ibid). Those who supported the concept of affirmative action in the 1960s had been fighting a long battle against segregation, discrimination and racism in the United States and EO 10925 was looked upon as a good start toward equality for all Americans. Those in opposition feared that Affirmative Action might cause them to lose income and create financial hardships for their families. It would be naïve to assume that there were not individuals who opposed the Executive Order due to racist attitudes, as well. Since 1961, many changes have been made to President Kennedy’s original Executive Order that include private sector hiring practices, the inclusion of extending equal opportunities to someone without regard to their sex and equal opportunities in the academic realm (NYU.edu, 2012). Affirmative Action, while created with the best of intentions, is no longer necessary in American society. The Fourteenth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provide ample protection to all citizens. Society appears to be far less tolerant of racism and racist acts. The establishment of the Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (now known as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC) in EO 10925 ensures that all job applicants, contractors and potential college students will be treated equally regardless of their minority status, not because of it (Teaching American History.org, 2012). Affirmative Action has created an environment that may cause potential employers to discriminate against non-minority citizens due to a desire by the employer to maintain a more accurate representation of the percentages of minority citizens within American society. I am not in favor of Affirmative Action as it appears to alter the perception of their capabilities as an individual in a negative manner.

Many arguments have been brought before the Supreme Court relating to Affirmative Action. Cases such as Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Gratz v. Bollinger, Grutter v. Bollinger and most recently Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin either sought to clarify or redefine Affirmative Action. In Bakke, the court determined that race could be used as a factor in college admissions, but not the only reason a person is or is not accepted. Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger were based on a premise similar to Bakke, and the Court decided that Gratz did use race above the merits of the individual applicant, whereas Grutter considered both factors when determining admission into the University Of Michigan Law School (Janda, Berry & Goldman, pp. 559-560). Fisher has yet to be decided. It is clear that the above referenced cases dealt with the effects of Affirmative Action on the academic admissions process. Being admitted to college because one is a minority and not in spite of it might cause that person to doubt their ability to compete on merits alone. If a person’s test scores are lower than those of someone who is not a minority, but that person is admitted anyway, one might question if that individual was being set up to fail. The same set of questions could be asked if the situation were reversed and a white male was admitted based on his race and not his test scores.  The testing process, though arguably not a true measure of one’s academic skills due to the potential for test anxiety, exists for a reason. If an individual does not test well in mathematics, it does not appear to be fair to that individual to admit them into a program in which they will be yards behind the starting line on day one.

“Although about three-fourths of white Americans consistently agree that blacks should “work their way up… without any special favors,” so do about half of black Americans.  Although 85% or more of whites endorse “ability” rather than “preferential treatment” to determine who gets jobs and college slots, so do about three-fifths of blacks” (Hochschild, JL, 1999).

 

There is the possibility for “reverse discrimination” when private employers, colleges or agencies within the government use Affirmative Action in their hiring or promotion practices. Reverse discrimination is defined as “discrimination against whites or males (as in employment or education)” by Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary. In New Haven, Connecticut the Fire Department offered a promotional exam to those who were qualified to take it. Eighteen White and one Hispanic firefighter passed the test, but none of the African-American candidates did. The Fire Department chose to invalidate the results and no one was promoted. Mr. Ricci, the firefighter who scored highest on the test and the seventeen others who passed, brought their case to the Supreme Court on the basis of reverse discrimination. Justice Kennedy wrote the court’s decision, stating that “…allowing ‘employers to discard the results of lawful and beneficial promotional exams even when there is little if any evidence of disparate-impact discrimination…would amount to a de facto quota system’” In her dissention, Justice Ginsburg mentioned a “long history of race discrimination in firefighting.” However, one of those who passed the test is Hispanic – a minority. Justice Alito wrote a concurrence to the majority decision. He opined that “…they [the firefighters who brought the case] have a right to demand…evenhanded enforcement of the law – of Title VII’s [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] prohibition against discrimination based on race” (NYTimes.com, 2012).  So, instead of eliminating racial bias, Affirmative Action has created an avenue for bias in a different form.

It is a fact that “ those of minority are more likely to be born into poverty then [sic] those who are white; 29 percent of Hispanic kids and 33 percent of Black kids and only 10 percent of White kids are born below the poverty line” (NYU.edu, 2012). Taking the socioeconomic background of a college or job applicant into consideration is one of the possibly untended aspects of Affirmative Action. However, if the federal and state governments would institute programs such as Charter Schools and School Choice Vouchers, the parents of minority children might have a fighting chance at improving their child’s educational experience. Giving someone a fighting chance to compete from the start of their lives produces a better result for their future than allowing them to flounder in a system that isn’t working. A strong educational foundation might produce better test scores, which would allow an individual to be accepted on their merits and not the color of their skin. That, in turn, would increase the individual’s level of self-esteem which could carry forward into their personal and working lives.

There are many private organizations that are working in communities in which the population is composed predominantly of minority families. Peaches and Greens, Girls Inc., The Women’s Bean Project and Wounded Warriors’ Project among hundreds of others contribute to improving self-esteem, education programs, and ways to be financially independent in a struggling economy. Some have job fairs and even employ residents to work for their organizations. Through the good works of these organizations, individuals might begin to feel that the small bit of assistance the Affirmative Action policy gives them is unnecessary. As mentioned previously, education reform (especially in economically challenged areas) needs to take place. More attention must be paid to the conditions under which children living in the inner cities and other depressed areas of the country are being educated. Vouchers and Charter Schools are a good start.

Regarding employment and college admissions, the ideal situation would be one in which the race or sex of the job or college applicant is unknown to the decision-maker until and unless the time comes when a face-to-face meeting is necessary. At that point, one would hope that the decision-maker has pre-judged the individual on their merits and physical appearance would be inconsequential. Although racism and sexism still exist, they are no longer the norm. It seems that society judges individuals on who they are and not what they are today more so than during the 1960s when President Kennedy signed EO 10925. During that era, one can understand how a policy such as Affirmative Action would be necessary. More Americans have, all too slowly, begun to understand the true meaning of the dream Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of. “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character”  (BrainyQuote.com, 2012).

 

 

References

Janda, K., Berry, J.M., Goldman, J. The Challenge of Democracy, 11^th Ed. 2008. Boston. Wadsworth.

Hochschild, JL. 1999. Affirmative Action as Culture War. The Cultural Territories of Race: Black and White Boundaries. :343-368., Chicago IL and New York: University of Chicago Press and Russell Sage Foundation. 2012. Web. http://scholar.harvard.edu/jlhochschild/publications/affirmative-action-culture-war Accessed November 15, 2012.

The New York Times. Supreme Court Finds Bias Against White Firefighters.2009. Web. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/us/30scotus.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Accessed November 15, 2012.

Brainy Quote. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes. 2012. Web. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth115056.html   Accessed November 15, 2012.

TeachingAmericanHistory.org. Executive Order 10925. 2012. Web.   http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=541 Accessed November 15, 2012.

NYU.edu. Affirmative Action History. 2012. Web. http://www.nyu.edu/classes/jackson/social.issues/papers/AfActGrG.html Accessed November 15, 2012.

 

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2012. Web.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reverse%20discrimination Accessed November 15, 2012.