boohabian
slamdance

Men talk of the Negro problem. There is no Negro problem. The problem is whether the American people have honesty enough, loyalty enough, honor enough, patriotism enough to live up to their own Constitution

-- Frederick Douglass, August 1893

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interview with the boohab

test your racism
black hell
cyberspace my black ass
race man's home companion

operating theories
why are you white?
what is racist?
affirmative action
race man's debunker
technical references
case law

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wesley dabney remarks on a japanese book entitled "Korean Nationalism as a Disease". i'm a little bit embarrassed that just those few paragraphs remind me of los angeles. i know i have seen some of that ugliness up close.

i know japanese reserve a special section of hell for koreans, who have, i am told no civil rights in japan. i wonder how such ethnic tensions will play here in the states, if and when we start dealing with the second leg of the axis of evil.

you heard it here first.

10:50:52 PM    comment []

speaking for myself, as one who defends racial preferences but opposes quotas, the reason has much to do with the logic of bakke.

bakke suggests that the effect of a quota is that it sets a fixed limit on the protected class, and creates a separate standard by which both classes are judged. from my perspective, this defeats the purpose of integration which is to put more people on equal footing and give all classes an opportunity to take part and take pride in the institution.

before integration, the standards of selective institutions were artificially high because they prejudged what constitutes proper preparation by eliminating from consideration those forced to attend inferior schools. all colleges were cherry picking. black colleges existed but they too chose from a mutually exclusive applicant pool.

this is precisely what a separate standard is. so until both black colleges and white colleges made changes to their admission and recruitment efforts, they effectively carried out separate and unequal tracks.

so if 'lowering standards' means doing what was done in texas, allowing entrance for the top 10% across all schools, then this is precisely appropriate. it is also race conscious and preferential because it recognizes the fact that the university was cherry picking.

it might be possible that a quota could be constructed to repair a separate standard. but integration requires an equal standard.

it is entirely reasonable for white candidates to a university in the highly segregated south to face a different set of criteria vis a vis affirmative action which is designed to overcome the historical denial of service, than they would face in other areas.

no doubt they would face different criteria in canada or as non-resident applicants to a state university. implied in the charter of a public university is serving its community, balance is called for.

this is my interpretation of the common sense behind balkin's proposition of racial asymmetry.

--
all that aside, race is an overburdened proxy, and i believe it is entirely reasonable to look at geography and class to satisfy what i interpret as the shallow interpretation of most voters who support colorblind referenda like prop 209.

6:07:30 PM    comment []