Race, race, race, race, race, race! There’s no escape!!!
A few days ago, someone sent me a tip about a scholarship contest at the University of Rhode Island (URI) for “White, Heterosexual, American Males,” held last Friday on campus.
Ryan Bilodeau, Chairman of the URI College Republicans told me he wanted to raise awareness of the “racist policy” of awarding scholarships based on race. He said he was approached by white people interested in applying for the scholarship and black people who wanted to know the point of the contest.
Wasn’t it obvious? To some, apparently not.
The URI scholarship contest didn’t make the news, though. The one we all heard about happened at Boston University. According to the Boston Globe, College Republicans tried to “spark a debate” about the odiousness of race preferences by offering a “whites only” scholarship. What ended up happening, however, is that the group was vilified. Nobody, including patronizing white liberals, wants to “debate” a darn thing. Race preferences are indefensible. John Rosenberg at Discriminations has an excellent post about the uproar in Boston.
I’ve blogged about this topic many times and will continue doing so as long as preferences exist. People who oppose preferences understand why they’re so demeaning. So-called affirmative action was designed to include in a pool of applicants the kind of people traditionally excluded from the pool, nothing more, nothing less. These days, affirmative action is a euphemism for dropped standards.
Black students with lower grades and test scores are admitted in place of non-black students with higher grades and test scores. Under affirmative action policies for hiring, black people with lesser qualifications and credentials and/or lower quality credentials are hired in place of non-blacks with better qualifications, more credentials, and higher quality credentials.
I wish a black person somewhere would be honest and tell the truth about why they support race preferences despite the illegality and immorality of such policies. Until someone can articulate why race-based, government-sanctioned considerations are morally wrong, they’ll continue to exist. Here’s a challenge for black readers who support preferential treatment based on race, should they wish to accept it:
If “whites only” scholarships, policies, and programs are obviously wrong, why are “blacks only” scholarships, policies, and programs not wrong? What’s difference between the races justifies lowering standards for one and discriminating against the other?
Every now and then, the Department of Justice does its job and enforces the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Southern Illinois University got rid of three of its race-based fellowships after the feds came calling. A few other schools followed suit, preemtively.
I explained why I believe race preferences are immoral, but as I said the other day, I don’t think like most black people, it seems. One fine day, when this generation of blacks realizes how much hispanics are benefiting from those same skin color-based policies, getting rid of preferences will be the latest civil rights fad. Until then, in the eyes of the government, black people are made of lower quality stuff and must be given what normal people earn.
We’ve indeed overcome, I suppose. 
