The 50th anniversary of the landmark decision in Brown vs. Board of Education was passing almost uneventfully with typical historical references and lamentations from the usual suspects of how much more remains to be done to achieve racial harmony. Then, in a speech at Constitution Hall in Washington, out of the blue and to the […]
Finally Getting The Message
More and more I sense that black journalists and commentators are seeing the light, removing the racial blinders, and recognizing that the huge and seemingly intractable educational achievement gap between minority and white children isn’t a function of racism. People like syndicated columnists William Raspberry and Clarence Page as well as Andrea Georgsson of The […]
On Affirmative Action And Misplaced Priorities
It has been instructive to me that one of the leading stories on the domestic front recently has been the University of Michigan affirmative action cases pending before the U. S. Supreme Court, the briefs filed on them by the Bush administration, and the related question of racial and ethnic diversity in college admissions as […]
The Lott Affair
First, let’s get this out of the way: Trent Lott was absolutely correct in resigning as Senate Majority Leader, not because he is a racist, but because he has failed the tests of leadership, of which the Thurman birthday party flap was the latest. Now, can we quit apologizing and have a serious conversation about […]
“Trail Of Tears”
A repeated segment on 60 Minutes II last month caught my attention. It told the story of the Seminole Indians of Florida, their assimilation and intermarriage with freed slaves, and their tragic “trail of tears” journey to the Oklahoma Territory after 1830. Recently, the U. S. Government settled a lawsuit, awarding $56 million to the […]
PC And The Alamo
The ultimate Texas shrine was injected into the political correctness wars a few days ago when an official of the Houston Independent School District announced a change in the way the siege at the Alamo will be treated in history classes, so as to make the dialogue less of an “us vs. them” confrontation and […]
From MLK To Cornel West: Progress?
Recently I re-read Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1963 classic “Letter From Birmingham Jail”, as powerful a testament of the American ideal as has been written this side of The Declaration of Independence. There is no better exposition on natural law as it applies to contemporary public policy issues. In reading these words, I couldn’t help […]
Affirmative Action Update
With the recent appeals court decision ruling against the race-based admissions policies of the University of Georgia and conflicting decisions in Michigan, Texas, and Washington, the stage is now set for the Supreme Court to resolve the issue once and for all and hopefully, restore the spirit of the 14th Amendment and Dr. King’s dream […]
The God Of Diversity
“……nor shall any State…..deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” – Amendment XIV, U. S. Constitution “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of […]