Michigan affirmative action ban up to voters now

[DesertFox]

Dawson Bell
Detroit Free Press
31 Mar 06


Michigan voters will make the next decision in what is shaping up as an emotional and divisive campaign to ban race and gender preferences in university admissions and government hiring and contracting.

On Thursday, the Michigan Supreme Court put an end to the long, litigious and occasionally raucous fight over whether the issue should go on the Nov. 7 ballot. The court decided not to hear arguments on whether the backers of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative misled people who signed their petitions.

The ballot initiative would amend the state Constitution "to ban affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on their race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin" in government hiring, contracting and university admissions.

More (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006603310302)

[Rhino]

Funny how the MSM has practically ignored this.

[DesertFox]

Downright hilarious.

[Riverboat]

The Rev. Franklin Raines III, pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Detroit, said he worries that the ballot fight will add to the racial divide in an already politically polarized country. Will someone please drop a clue in the good preacher's collection basket this Sunday? He desperately needs one.

[Native American]

I predict the measure will obtain the overwhelming majority of the vote, thus once again demonstrating how extremely unpopular the Liberal/Democrat Agenda actually is in this country.

[Native American]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">The Rev. Franklin Raines III, pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Detroit, said he worries that the ballot fight will add to the racial divide in an already politically polarized country. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Fine, move to Mexico then, pal.

[Beowulf]

And I'm sure that if the voters pass to eliminate affirmative action that a court somewhere will trump the voters so why bother?

[ldb83]

Will someone please drop a clue in the good preacher's collection basket this Sunday? He desperately needs one.

I guess I need the same clue... I think he could be right. No?

[Conserv_Atticus]

Affirmative action is true racism.

[Riverboat]

I think he could be right. No?
No. Definitely no.

[ldb83]

No. Definitely no.

How not? You don't think that bringing a racial issue to the forefront of debate will increase racial tension? Or that we're not polarized nowadays? What part of this guy's comment isn't true?

[Riverboat]

Let me be clear. Discussion of racial issues is near the top of my Things To Do list. Unfortunately, it isn't easy to have a rational discussion about this with people who carry a bullhorn in the trunk of their car.

Affirmative action is wrong and immoral. It punishes those who have succeeded by dint of hard work and talent. Those who move up in the system through affirmative action will always be tainted. Did that individual get his ticket punched because some institution needed someone wearing a skirt, or a turban or a dashiki or whatever? Even when that person wins, he loses.

I'm not from the Department of Apologies, but I'm sorry for all the years of oppression against blacks and others. But rectifying history with more discrimination seems counter-intuitive.

[ldb83]

I hear ya. I just wondered why you don't think that making people vote on it will add to racial tensions. I didn't see where that pastor agreed or disagreed with affirmative action. Seemed to me all he was saying is that this is a sore time for a divisive debate.

Either way...

A lot of issues that people typically attribute to race are actually attributable to money. There is an unbelieeevable difference in the way wealthy districts run their schools and they way middle to low income districts run theirs.

Here in Michigan, high-income schools only 30 miles down the road had soooo many more opportunities than the poor school 15 miles in the other direction. I could spend about 20 minutes describing how much of an advantage those rich kids have over the poor ones in the public school system. This difference isn't fair and it shouldn't exist. Affirmative actioners should focus their energy on ways to prove that some of these poor kids can perform as well as the wealthy ones if given the chance. And then... they should be given that chance, in my opinion.

Either that or we should require some sort of uniformity in public schools such that somebody who got 90% in every highschool class wouldn't leave with a 3.666 GPA while somebody down the road with the same academic record left with a 4.000. The deck of opportunity cards is stacked in favor of the wealthy, not necessarily the white.

[DeclinetoState]

Seemed to me all he was saying is that this is a sore time for a divisive debate.


That's a typical mantra of someone who thinks they're going to be on the losing side.

[DesertFox]

America has needed a serious discussion of race since about 1964, and every time it gets started, some knee grow acts all offended, begins invoking slavery and his ancestors, and stalks off all puffed up with self-righteousness before anyone can respond. All the knee grow's fans in the audience leap to their feet at each applause line, shouting, "Yeah! YEAH!" and glaring around daring anyone to say different. When the knee grow leaves in a huff, all his fans leave in a huff, deliberately stepping on people's toes and brushing their heads unnecessarily hard on their way out.

Nothing gets accomplished because the other side -- the one that's pro-affirmative action -- doesn't WANT to discuss the issue; they want to DICTATE and to hell with what anyone else wants.