Forget Rev. Wright: Condi talks tough about race in America

CNN.com
March 31, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama has called for a national discussion on race in America, and one of the folks who sure didn’t hold back when asked was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a discussion with the editorial board of the Washington Times on Thursday, Rice called racism a “birth defect” of America, and said that black Americans have loved the nation even when it didn’t love us.
The Times reported:
“Black Americans were a founding population,” she said. “Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That’s not a very pretty reality of our founding.” “As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, “descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that…”
“That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today,” she said.
Rice later said: “America doesn’t have an easy time dealing with race,” Miss Rice said, adding that members of her family have “endured terrible humiliations.” “What I would like understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and had faith in this country even when this country didn’t love and have faith in them — and that’s our legacy,” she said.
Wow, was all I could say to that.
What was even more stunning was the relative lack of coverage on this issue.I was told CNN’s “The Situation Room” did a piece on her comments Friday. But when I surfed the Net to see follow-up stories in other papers, it has pretty much been ignored, except for some briefs.
Why would the mainstream media be so dismissive of Rice’s comments? Imagine if Rev. Al Sharpton or Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. said such a thing. Do you think they would have gotten ripped?
The fact of the matter is that Rice was right on the money with her comments, and should be commended. She spoke honestly and openly about the issue, and deserves credit for speaking the truth.
I just wish my colleagues in the media would do a better job at advancing the issue of race in America and our sordid history.
We went bonkers about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but when Rice, the nation’s chief diplomat, spoke truthfully, it barely made a ripple.
- Roland S. Martin, CNN Contributorhttp://www.rolandsmartin.com/
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/31/forget-rev-wright-condi-talks-tough-about-race-in-america/

STATEMENT OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (AAAA) ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE’S ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CAMPAIGN

STATEMENT OF THE
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (AAAA)
ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS INSTITUTE’S ANTI-AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CAMPAIGN

Unsatisfied with the outcome in the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger case, where the US Supreme Court held that diversity in higher education admissions was constitutional, the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI) launched an effort to circumvent the decision and amend state constitutions to outlaw affirmative action. After its successful effort to side-step the Court in Michigan, ACRI, led by California businessman Ward Connerly, has begun a campaign, called the “Super Tuesday for Equal Rights,” to pass similar ballot initiatives in five additional states: Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arizona and Colorado.

We find the ACRI’s efforts deceptive, short-sighted and morally suspect. In Michigan, there have been numerous complaints that voters who signed petitions for ballot initiatives were misled to believe that they were approving a measure that was pro-civil rights, not anti-affirmative action. Citizens testified before the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and later in federal district court that Connerly’s canvassers lied or otherwise misled them to secure their signatures. The court effectively condemned the canvassers as engaging in “systematic voter fraud by telling voters that they were signing a petition supporting affirmative action.” (Operation King’s Dream, et al., v. Ward Connerly, et al., http://www.bamn.com/doc/2006/060829-tarnow-decision.pdf)

The essence of affirmative action is opportunity. Affirmative action laws ban quotas and preferences. Yet, the opponents of affirmative action consistently obfuscate the facts, without offering a scintilla of evidence that so-called “preferences” have harmed their constituents. Affirmative action remedies the current effects of past discrimination and prevents discrimination by eliminating barriers to equal opportunity in employment and business enterprise. In higher education, the Supreme Court made clear that race could be one of many factors, like geographic diversity and athletics, in holistically determining qualifications for admission. As Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun wrote, “In order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way.” Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said: “Affirmative action in the best sense promotes equal consideration, not reverse discrimination.”

AAAA is pleased that ACRI’s efforts to promote Oklahoma and Missouri Civil Rights Initiatives have failed and that the petitions have been withdrawn. ACRI’s shameful and deceptive campaign must be challenged at every turn. We support the civil rights and civil liberties organizations who have mounted a legal defense of equal opportunity through affirmative action and we join them in calling on all fair-minded men and women who understand the continuing importance of affirmative action to stand with us. We must be one nation if we are to succeed in a global marketplace. To that end, everyone must have a chance to compete. This is not the time to turn back.

Founded in 1974, the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA) is a national not-for-profit association of professionals working in the areas of affirmative action, equal opportunity, and diversity. AAAA helps its members to be more successful and productive in their careers. It also promotes understanding and advocacy of affirmative action to enhance access and equality in employment, economic and educational opportunities.

April 23, 2008
(Updated, May 4, 2008)

AAAA Awards Given at 34th Annual Conference

AAAA Awards
At its 34th Annual Conference in April 2008, AAAA conferred its awards upon ten individuals and one corporation for outstanding contributions to the cause of access, opportunity and diversity. Wade Henderson, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, received the Arthur A. Fletcher Award for lifetime achievement. Raphael Olmeda, president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, won the Cesar Estrada Chavez Award. Littleton P. Mitchell, a community activist in Wilmington, Delaware, received the Rosa Parks Award. Awardees of the Community Service Award were Stuart Ishimaru, Commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Lilly Ledbetter, activist and plaintiff in the Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., case; and Theodore “Ted” Shaw, former Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. President’s award recipients were Ernesto “Ernie” Santos and Matthew Camardella and the Champion of Diversity Award went to Xerox Corporation. Patricia Elizondo accepted the award on behalf of Xerox.
Representatives Augustus F. Hawkins and Parren J. Mitchell received the Drum Major for Justice Award, posthumously, at the President’s Reception on Capitol Hill. The Mitchell and Hawkins families received the awards on their behalf.

Activist says Nebraska still needs affirmative action

NTV.Nebraska TV
Associated Press - May 1, 2008 5:25 PM ET

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - An anti-racism activist from Tennessee says Nebraskans should not be duped into supporting a ballot initiative that would ban affirmative action, thinking it will prevent minority applicants from getting jobs they're not qualified for.
Laws already protect against that.
Tim Wise says policies that allow consideration of race and gender in public hiring, contracting and school admissions are still needed to protect against unintentional bias.
His comments came in advance of a speech this evening at Creighton University.
Nebraska is 1 of 5 states being targeted by the California group Super Tuesday for Equal Rights. A petition drive is under way to get a proposed constitutional amendment banning affirmative action on the November ballot. http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=8258014&nav=menu605_2
On the Net:
Tim Wise's Web site: http://www.timwise.org/
Super Tuesday for Equal Rights: http://www.supertuesday2008.org/

University of Michigan president pledges to make campus environment welcoming for minority students

MLive.com
May 1, 2008

"We'll do whatever it takes within the law - we follow the law - we'll do whatever it takes to create the kind of environment that will be a great experience," Coleman told the audience of about 100 people, mostly black, on Wednesday evening.
Invited to talk about higher education after Proposal 2, Coleman said the university has continued to refine and step up its recruitment efforts. But she said it needs support from the community to encourage students to apply, and if they are accepted, to enroll at U-M.
"We give every student applying to the university the opportunity to tell us what is special about you," said Coleman, during the talk at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.
Approved by voters in November 2006, Proposal 2 barred consideration of race or gender in higher education, forcing the university to alter its admissions process and replace some scholarships.
Since then, U-M hired more admissions staff to help pore over applications. It has added programming at its Detroit Center on Woodward Avenue to increase its ties to Detroit, and a student group uses the center on Saturdays to offer SAT and ACT test-prep to local high schoolers, said Coleman.
As they have in previous years, faculty, students and Coleman have personally called admitted students to persuade them to enroll. Coleman said this year her entire executive team made phone calls.
Reporter Dave Gershman can be reached at 734-994-6818 or mailto:dgershmanr@annarbornews.com.And Coleman said the use of software from the College Board called DescriptorPLUS - which includes demographic and socio-economic data on neighborhoods and high schools across the country - has let the university better focus its outreach visits to high schools that haven't historically sent many students to the university. A director will be named next week for a new center on campus to support K-12 partnerships and increase the number of students interested in applying to the university.
Proposal 2 took effect midway through the admissions cycle of the freshman class that arrived on campus last fall. That class had 334 black students, four more than the previous year. But because the overall class size was larger, black students made up 5.8 percent of the class, the smallest proportion of black freshman dating back to at least 1998.
Later this month, U-M is expected to give the first clue to the demographics of the next freshman class when it releases information on students who've paid deposits to reserve a spot for next fall.
Katrina Carter of Detroit, one of the audience members, said the university is doing what it can to recruit minority students. "It's good to hear that it's an ongoing process and to kind of engage the community," she said. http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/05/university_of_michigan_preside.html