Affirmative action, diversity, and multiculturalism
Multicultural study means there is an emphasis on anything and everything that
contrasts with America's historically male-dominated English-speaking white
culture. It is change for the sake of change — the result
of the rebellious 1960's counterculture finding its way into the academics.
White
Student Sues For Racial Discrimination. This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear two
race-related lawsuits filed by white parents in Seattle, Washington, and Jefferson County, Kentucky, who
claim their government school systems are engaged in discrimination by using race to make school
assignments, a practice supposedly outlawed by Brown v. Board of Education. (Although based on
political considerations and a flawed sociological study, rather than on legal arguments, Brown nevertheless
is the law of the land.)
The
First Affirmative Action Candidate. It seems as if American college students have been groomed
to cheer a black presidential candidate thereby providing them with a small measure of ablution from their
"racist sins." Unfortunately, they were not trained to apply universal moral standards and sound
judgment when analyzing issues and individuals. Rather, their worldview is seen through the limited
prism of white guilt. The outcome of which is that white America, Europe and Israel are tainted with
sin, and blacks, Muslims and those of the third-world are victims, and therefore virtuous regardless of
their actions or motivations.
Ethnomathematics: Even math education is
being politicized. A new textbook, "Rethinking Mathematics: Teaching Social Justice by the
Numbers," shows how problem solving, ethnomathematics and political action can be merged. Among its topics
are: "Sweatshop Accounting," with units on poverty, globalization and the unequal distribution of wealth.
Another topic, drawn directly from ethnomathematics, is "Chicanos Have Math in Their Blood." Others
include "The Transnational Capital Auction," "Multicultural Math," and "Home Buying While Brown or Black."
A
betrayal of the civil rights struggle. During the 2003-04 school year, only 52 of the nation's
92,000 public schools were labeled "persistently dangerous," a designation under the No Child Left Behind Act
entitling students to move to an alternate "safe" school. Philadelphia had 14 schools labeled as
"persistently dangerous" and Baltimore had six. … School violence, including assaults on teachers and
staff, is not restricted to inner city schools but occurs also in suburban and rural schools. However,
the bulk of the violence is at schools with large black populations.
Noose
Outcry: A New Entry in the Campus Hall of Shame. Does anyone still wonder why college
culture is the laughingstock of the larger community? Our campuses seem to lurch from one politically
correct knee-slapper to the next. Does anyone crack a book at these places anymore?
Sending Poor Kids to Middle-Class Schools Doesn't Fix
the System. Proximity is not destiny, educationally speaking. A generation of experience
with racial integration has taught a clear lesson: Sitting black kids next to white kids in school is
not a silver bullet that zaps unequal achievement. However, the faith that proximity leads to equal
achievement remains the cargo cult of education.
Pin the tail on the
honky: If you haven't been following the campus cultural wars lately, you might find it hard to
believe that some of those quotes were actually uttered. But if you have worked or studied on a campus
lately, chances are you've heard variations of several of them.
Academic Cesspools:
Professor Noel Ignatiev, of the Massachusetts School of Art, explains that his concern is to do away with
whiteness. Why? "Because whiteness is a form of racial oppression." Ignatiev adds, "There
cannot be a white race without the phenomenon of white supremacy." What's blackness? According to
Ignatiev, "Blackness is an identity that can be plausibly argued to arise out of a resistance to oppression."
Bucknell professor Geoff Schneider agrees, saying, "A lot of our students, I think, are unconsciously racist."
Both Ignatiev and Schneider are white.
Academic Cesspools
II. The Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a frontline
organization in the battle against academic suppression of free speech and thought, released information about
what's going on at the University of Delaware, and probably at other universities as well, that should send
chills up the spines of parents of college-age students.
An
Afro Centric Curriculum Will Segregate Students. In Philadelphia, students are going to be
required to take a year-long course in African and African-American history — written by an "Afro
centrist". … No good can come of placing more emphasis on the events and experiences of one race over
that of another in our public schools. … Implementing a curriculum in which a theme of black oppression
dominates, is simply trading inequities.
Capistrano Abandons Race-based Student
Attendance Policies. The Capistrano Unified School District will stop using students' race to
determine where they will go to school, under a comprehensive settlement approved by the Board of Trustees
Monday night [11/27/2006]. The settlement comes in response to a lawsuit brought by Pacific Legal
Foundation, which challenged the District's policy of utilizing race as a factor when drawing attendance
boundaries, along with the current attendance boundaries plan created pursuant to that policy.
Reporter claims assault
at 'racist' public school. A radio reporter attempting to interview the principal of a publicly
funded school backed by radical groups that lay claim to the Southwestern U.S says he was chased down and
tackled at the campus today, apparently by order of the principal.
A definition of racism,
itself racist. Apparently, blacks and Latinos and Native Americans can't be racist. So
the next time a kid of minority color pulls a knife on a white kid, calling him "Whitey" or worse, we'll
know that this wasn't racist. The next time a minority rights champion flies off the handle and says
that all whites are racists, we'll know that statement isn't itself racist. How will we know?
Because according to the people who teach our children, only white people in America can be racist!
The flag,
the schools, the immigrants, and us. Exalting multiculturalism and multilingualism,
and encouraging separatism on the part of minorities, liberals are in effect asking Americans not
just to open their doors but to tear down the house.
Planning ahead is considered
racist? Are you salting away a little money for your retirement? Trying to plan for your
kids' education? If so, Seattle Public Schools seems to think you're a racist. According to the
district's official Web site, "having a future time orientation" (academese for having long-term goals) is
among the "aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and
Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype and label people of color." Huh?
"I pledge
allegience to my black people". One of the nation's fastest-rising poetry prodigies
is a 7-year-old New York girl whose poisonous demagogic advocacy of black separatism makes
Al Sharpton look like Mister Rogers. … Autum Ashante' is the natural offspring of militant
multiculturalism and government-sanctioned identity politics. We reap what we sow.
Baking up a controversy.
The enemies of campus bake sales are at it again, inflaming one another over the dire threat of cupcakes and
cookies sold at different prices to whites, minorities, and women. The sales are political parody, of
course, poking fun at affirmative action policies and trying to get a debate going. Campus orthodoxy
holds that such policies are sacred and that any dissent, even in the form of satirical cookie prices, is
illegitimate and deserving of suppression.
Letter to the Editor of the Los Angeles
Times. During my last two years at Dorsey High, I've had my classroom burnt to the ground, had a
death threat, physical assaults, and constant accusations of racism. Community "activists" in our area
have written woeful letters to the Superintendent, imploring her to remove me from my position as a Spanish
teacher. Their accusation: Students are failing my class because they're forced to learn Greek
and Hebrew instead of Spanish.
Enforced
diversity: William Anderson describes his participation in a mandatory "diversity"
seminar for his new job at Frostburg State University in Maryland. After recounting
some of the idiotic exercises, he observes that liberals have managed to impose such
indignities as these "diversity" sessions because of their control of so
many social institutions.
Multiculturalism's War on
Education. Back to school nowadays means back to classrooms, lessons and
textbooks permeated by multiculturalism and its championing of "diversity." Many parents
and teachers regard multiculturalism as an indispensable educational supplement, a
salutary influence that "enriches" the curriculum. But is it?
Rap Music as Education an Insult to Minority
Youth, Says Columnist. A growing number of public school teachers across the U.S. are using rap
music to teach history and English — but that's not sitting well with one conservative columnist.
Western Civilization At Stake: Rep. Tom
Tancredo (R-CO) worries that too many young Americans — particularly immigrants and their "first
generation" children — are being taught the wrong lessons in our schools. We cannot allow this
to continue or else we risk becoming the Dis-united States of America. If you care about our country and
its heritage, then you need to contact your local school board and state legislators and emphasize the
importance of their recognizing the importance of Western Civilization.
Liberal segregationist in the
schools: The spirit of George Wallace is alive and well — among left-wing zealots in
some of America's most "progressive" taxpayer-funded schools. In Oberlin, Ohio, local school board
president Tony Marshall argues that only black high school teachers should teach "black history."
Black History Month vs. Condoleezza Rice:
A friend of mine from Arkansas writes the
following: "Thought you'd appreciate this little anecdote. A co-worker of
mine has a daughter in public elementary school, here in Pine Bluff. They're
still doing Black History Month stuff, apparently, because the kids were
told to come to class dressed as a famous (and presumably accomplished)
African-American. My co-worker's kid was told to come as
Tina Turner. My co-worker informed the teacher that her child
would come as Condoleezza Rice instead. The teacher refused to allow it, on
grounds that Rice 'is for white people.' Nice, huh?"
Politically Correct Education:
Multiculturalism is often given as the driving ethic that prompts one to be politically correct. At the
foundation of this movement is the belief that all education is political. Nowhere in the curriculum can
one find a hiding place from race, class, or gender issues. Added to this assumption is the law of moral
and ethical relativism: All systems of thought, all cultures, are equal in value. To assume
otherwise is politically incorrect by definition.
Quota
"logic": Old-timers may remember a radio program about a crime-fighting
hero called The Shadow, who had "the power to cloud men's minds, so that they cannot
see him." Affirmative action has that same power today. Some of the murkiest
thinking of our times has come from those defending group preferences and quotas.
Quota
"logic" part II: What most blacks need is — first of all — the
kind and quality of education that they do not get in most ghetto schools. Least
of all do they get this education from those teachers who spend precious class time
dredging up the past instead of preparing students for the future.
College Prof Shunned by
"Tolerant" Crowd for Opposition to Affirmative Action. A professor at the
University of North Carolina-Wilmington has requested a debate with black activist Jesse
Jackson. Dr. Mike Adams wants a face-off with Jackson on Fox News' The O'Reilly
Factor to discuss the issue of affirmative action. But Adams says he doubts Jackson
will be "courageous enough" to come on the program and debate the topic.
Sincerity of "Diverse" College Campuses
Questioned: A conservative activist says despite all the "diversity" hype on public university
campuses today, there is little tolerance for those who dare to question left-wing ideology.
Race is Still an Issue in College Admission,
Activist Says: In 1996, California voters passed Proposition 209, which did away with
racial preferences in admissions. The Center for Equal Opportunity says the University of California is
ignoring the law in a unseemly manner and is back to using race as a factor in admitting first-year students.
The Prep-School PC Plague: The
diversity industry — the profession paid to harangue Americans about racism and sexism —
has burrowed deep into the nation's elite prep schools. Where private secondary schools once inculcated
American citizenship and patriotism, today they employ diversity professionals to show students their
complicity in an unjust society.
Diversity vs. "Diversity": Sometimes it
seems as if "diversity" is going to replace "the" as the most often used word in the English language.
Yet the place where this word has become a holy grail -- academia -- shows less tolerance for genuine
diversity of viewpoints than any other American institution.
Penn State Caves to
Activists: Pennsylvania State University has given in to the "diversity" demands of
hundreds of leftist students camping out in the student union.
Military memorial not PC
enough: A memorial to commemorate alumni who "gave their lives" in military service to
the United States say the honorarium is not "diversified" enough.
The London Terror Plot's Academic
Connection. One of at least 24 "young Western Muslims" nailed in the British airliner bombing
plot last week, [Waheed] Zaman is described as "a well-known political activist" at London Metropolitan
University. According to the Times of London, "He is head of the Islam Society at London Metropolitan
University and is reported to have spoken at Muslim rallies and written a number of articles about Islam for
the student magazine."
The Crime of Being White:
Recently I wrote a piece about Keith John Sampson, a college student who was charged with "racial harassment" for reading
an anti-Ku Klux Klan book. Not surprisingly, the article evoked a great response, including emails from those
with their own stories to tell about persecution inspired by what I will call caucaphobia.
American
Politics Aren't 'Post-Racial'. The story began prosaically enough. Keith Sampson, a student
employee on the janitorial staff earning his way toward a degree, was in the habit of reading during work
breaks. Last October he was immersed in "Notre Dame Vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated
the Ku Klux Klan." Mr. Sampson was in short order visited by his union representative, who
informed him he must not bring this book to the break room, and that he could be fired.
There is also a section about racial bias
in College and
University Admissions.
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