The other problem with affirmative
The other problem with affirmative action
Joel at Pax Nortona adds his own experience to an article from Tolerance.org
Stacking the Deck Against Affirmative Action
Not only that, but when they were asked by unqualified white guys (c'mon, c'mon, you KNOW there's a couple of them out there) why they didn't hire the shmoes, said shmoes were frequently told they had to hire a minority for the spot. Softens the blow on the old ego and thickens the residue of hatred. The last part wasn't always intended, it was just a side effect of taking the easy way out.
Tolerance.org has it right regarding what it calls the "The Blair Witch-Hunt Project":
The top guys at the Times still don't seem to understand that they have failed on two different fronts: first, by not attracting more qualified non-white journalists to diversify the Times' newsroom and, second, by giving a young reporter with a dreadful track record bigger and bigger stories supposedly as a way of helping black journalists....[The New York Times] still does not get it. [Times decision-makers] seem not to understand that diversity in the workplace does not mean showing black people who are bad at their jobs greater leniency than whites would get. Diversity programs at their best provide greater access to institutions and workplaces that have a history of excluding qualified minorities. And by that measure, the New York Times newsroom definitely needs to be diversified.
This matches what I often saw in minority hiring. African Americans who I would have been proud to work with -- because they were intelligent, thoughtful, charismatic, and real leaders -- were scorned by white managers. To prove that they weren't "racist", these same managers would hire black people with horrible track records. They would, naturally, do poorly at the job: the white managers would shake their heads and say "See. Affirmative action makes us hire incompetents.posted by Prometheus 6 at 5/27/2003 03:09:09 AM |
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Posted by Prometheus 6 on May 27, 2003 - 3:09am :: Old Site Archive
