I do watch the Sunday morning talking head show and this week, Fox News Sunday had a head to head between Jennifer Gratz who was the impetus the case decided by the US Supreme Court concerning race preferences (affirmative action) in admission policies at the University of Michigan) and Shanta Driver who argued FOR racial discrimination to be continued to combat racial discrimination (even as the people of Michigan passed a referendum to stop such activities).
I fall into the latter category – I grew up in a bad time for race relations in America and watch, real close up, the school busing problems in Boston. As long as it is kept up as an issue, it will continue to be an issue. And as we have seen with Reverands Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, those that can profit from it, will and at which point, becomes self-perpetuating. Thus, watching this particular clip completely shows both sides in contrast. The “good stuff” starts at 5:28:
5:28 – Gratz outlines why she sued – that UM created the standard that placed race first (interesting how the point system used for admission had one’s skin color if a minority completely overwhelm the points set for academic or “legacy” achievement).
6:35 – Driver: “I think if you look at K-12 education, and you look at the eperiences of black and latino high school students in the State of Michigan, and you compare ANY Detroit school to any majority suburban white school in the State the difference is night and day. And what those points represented was recognition of the inequalities in this society that still still structure opportunity, it wasn’t a gift to those students, it was a recognition that those students that work the hardest, that did the best out of those inferior schools deserve the same chance as those white students that are more privileged to go there.”
Hmm, I note the choice of words of how Driver framed the problem – talks about Detroit and tries the comparison to any other part of Michigan and immediate brings out the race card. Really? Unless one WANTS to set up a pre-determined outcome for the argument, who in their right mind would take Detroit as a ‘reasonable’ example to use? A bankrupt city after decades and decades of Democrat governance and the Blue Social Model / Unionized budgets, all for the glory of the common man, the literacy rate in Detroit is under 50%. NO amount of points is going to overcome that.
Natural consequences in action. Instead of blaming the “privileged suburban high schools” as the source of the problem, how about turning the blame finger inward, as in “we kept voting for those that perpetuated poor governance that allowed relatively good schools decades ago disintegrate into hellholes of education”? Or, in reality as we’ve been watching Detroit self-destruct over the last few years, just a plain hellhole. Period. It chased the money out, it accepted future prisoners as city councilors, mayors and representatives, overpaid their pensioners, couldn’t fill potholes, can’t provide for normal levels of fire and police services – and they wonder why the schools are failing?
(H/T: The Corner)
