Let me start out by stating quite firmly that the United States does not have equality. We are nowhere near an equal society. We are better than we were sixty-one years ago when the first Executive Order for Affirmative Action was signed. We are better than we were when women, gays, and other minorities were included in Affirmative Action at later dates. We are better after Title IX was implemented. But we are not there yet.
In some cases, we are far, far away from equality. One has to only go into a poor neighborhood and see that it is primarily populated by minorities to see that. One has to only go into most any jail or prison and see that it is primarily populated by minorities to see that. One has to see the dearth of minority or women top executives in American businesses to see that. However, to say there are not advances is to be specious and, yes, stupid. The only excuse they may have could be that they are not where they want to be and they were not there when it started.
Women and minorities in executive positions, at all prove things have improved. Women in pretty much every profession, from the military on up, prove things have improved. I point to a personal story:
In the mid-1970’s, I supervised a female co-worker who was attempting to go to Bolt Hall; one of the top law schools in the country. It was so unique for a woman to be in Bolt Hall, I and all of her co-workers adjusted schedules around her hours so that she had a chance to make it.
How times have changed. I do not know the percentages, but since Affirmative Action, women and minorities have filled the legal profession. Equally so, it seems, they have filled the medical profession. When given the chance to exercise their intelligence, they took the opportunity and thrived. As it should have always been.
But along the way, there have been misuses of Affirmative Action and Title IX. And do not say there has not been. Affirmative Action and Title IX was supposed to give equal opportunity. Additionally, it was always believed that Affirmative Action was supposed to give minorities (and women) a helping hand when all other things were equal. Nay, nay.
Affirmative Action has denied people opportunities because of race; if the were white males. Just because you are white does not make you anymore privileged than anyone else.
Title IX was supposed to give equal opportunity. It was used to make colleges co-educational (except, it seems all-women’s colleges). It was used at first to give an equal number of scholarships to women. Then someone said, “not enough, it means equal number of sports.” Thus, schools added women’s sports, renamed activities sports, and dropped men’s sports. Then someone said, “not enough, it means equal money spent.” This was a problem because of the cost of football. Thus, schools added more women’s scholarships and dropped more men’s sports and/or scholarships. Don’t believe me: look it up. And basically, there was such a need to build up women’s sports that there was no oversight. This, I believe is what led to the admissions scandal insofar as when it involved athletics. It is easy to pad these spots because the administration is looking for numbers.
Let us be perfectly honest. White males have been discriminated against for all of these years. To argue otherwise is to be ignorant or just plain stupid. Because of the people in the pipeline, that is effectively already 4 generations of white males that have been burdened with paying the price of past generations. To put it any other way is to ignore that truth. And guess what? Most, myself included, did it willingly for the most part. I will admit that when I was out of work and was passed over because of being a white guy or missing out on a government job because I was a white guy; I wasn’t too happy at the time. But later, after I got a job and wasn’t hurting anymore, I thought it was probably a good thing. Even into my later career it affected my ability to move to other positions because, quite frankly, it was one of the factors that was going to rule against me. Once again, though, I thought we needed to do this.
In later years, it started to occur to me. What is our criteria to stop Affirmative Action? Oh, I know most will agree that we are not there yet. I would as well, although probably not as loudly as some people, but nonetheless I do agree that we still need it. But what is the benchmark we are aiming for? When do we get there? The laws are open-ended is such a way that right now they have no end. They can last for eternity. And you cannot forget that, no matter how noble the cause, Affirmative Action is discrimination. In fact, it is kind of insidious because it is in the guise of being anti-discriminatory.
Then we have such things as Black History Month, Women’s History Month, LatinX History Month, Indigenous Peoples History Month, Asian-American History Month, LGBQT+ Awareness Month, etc. (I used the etc. because I am sure I am missing something by accident or because it is so new). Trying to get an equal playing ground when you are doing everything to separate and, in some ways, alienate yourself from everyone else seems counterproductive.
So, I ask you; and by you, I mean everyone dig deep down in your soul and determine once and all
DO YOU REALLY WAN EQUALITY?
AND NO, DO NOT TELL ME — TELL YOURSELF. YOU MIGHT BE ASHAMED, AS WELL YOU SHOULD BE
