Ed...
As an out of state UofMi graduate, class of '73, I am in total agreement...
I hope the MFs at the Big U get their asses kicked in court.
Condescending liberals... treat the "darkies" like retards.
They aren't.
The theory was great. I believed in it. Take the brightest and the best from the beleaguered... bring them up to speed... send them off to help their peers.
The reality sucked. Birth of PC.
Don't dare criticize or hold the folks you think you are helping to the same standard as the white folks who worked their stinking asses off to get in and get through... just start lowering the standards so nobody's feelings get hurt and everyone can get the same piece of paper.
Saw what was going on. Lost all incentive. Took advantage... Switched from a math major which was how I got in (too much work) to English (the major of idiots who can write) and minored in partying my ass off. Succeeded beautifully on both fronts. <ggg>
See it happening now in my company.
The saddest part of this whole deal is that in my time in Manhattan, I worked with the brightest and the best... some of whom were black... who were not treated with the respect they truly deserved by the liberals who were delighted with themselves for having brought them into the fold...
Case in point.
At Manhattan Theatre Club (my last gig in New York), we had a black woman with a college degree, who had lived and worked in China and spoke Mandarin Chinese, join us as a receptionist because she had always been interested in theatre and publicity... figured the receptionist job was her in. She made friends with the folks in the PR department and managed to get herself a computer at her desk so she could write press releases while she did her other job... which was very demanding... we got a lot of calls....
She worked her butt off and moved over to PR. We became friends from the beginning... she, another black woman who had been one of the black super models of the early 70s who was then working in ticket services (this was the 90s), and I always ate lunch together.
We had open and honest discussions. When we disagreed, I NEVER pulled punches... none of us did, but we took care of each other... example to follow marked by **.
Part of me felt bad about our openess. I figured they thought I was a stinking, racist pig because I believed people were responsible for their own behavior... not the common train of thought at liberal MTC.
At one point, my friend (T...the receptionist to PR woman) said to me, "K, you are the only person who works here, who isn't a racist." I almost stopped breathing.
Why do you say that?
Because you are the only one here who wanted to know who I was. The rest of them treat me like the black woman they have working here. You are the only one who ever invited me to your home.
I was floored... then I remembered that one of my dear friends and coworker (may he rest in peace) said to me early in T's tenure... "I really admire T. She wants to see what it's like to work in theatre. It must be really hard to be a single black woman with two kids trying to make ends meet on a receptionist's salary."
I looked at him and said, "She's married to a husband who has a good job. That is why she can afford to work here."
This is why I despise affirmative action... the good folks with dark skin are looked down upon by the love me love me love me I'm a liberal class while they purport to promote "their" cause.
I believe there is an incredibly healthy black middle and upper class in this country that never gets recognized... it would ruin the political power-seeking agenda of creeps like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who derive their power from the politics of victimization and upset the liberal well-meaning but racist white folks who deep down inside think blacks are inferior which is why they need special help. If they got to know the good folks, they might realize they are ruining things for them...
Strip off the skin... all you have is red in every human being... muscle and blood... brain is the same color gray matter... some folks have stronger gray matter than others. Melanin is not the determining factor.
**Now for the sidebar...
The worst two days I ever spent in Manhattan were after the LA riots over scumbag Rodney King... the news media were trying to incite the same in NYC by reporting rumors of rioting in the streets... the only good thing Dinkins ever did for Manhattan was get on the phone to all of them and tell them to knock it off.
People were panicking. Our Marketing Director came flying into ticket services around 1:00 p.m. with the General Manager wanting to cancel that evening's performance... the phones were ringing off the hook with subscribers trying to exchange tickets because they were afraid of what was about to transpire...
I looked at them and said, "I just came in on the subway. The streets are quiet. I would rather the face rioters in the streets, than the wrath of subscribers who came in expecting a show and found that it was cancelled. If someone calls in who is afraid to come into the city, we will accommodate them... but we must have a show."
The show went on.
When the work day ended, we paired up. Minority with white and made sure we looked like we were enjoying each other's company... we had to walk past a project and a drug rehabilatation house to get to the subway... The super model and I grabbed each other and made sure we laughed and smiled for the two long blocks out of there.
Strength in unity...
Not in diversity.
ksquared
P.S. FWIW... as a woman who was a child in the pre-woman's-lib 50s, I never thought being a woman was a handicap or precluded success... I could dance academic circles around any male... including the cats who scored 800s on their math and science boards... crowning high school achievement in this regard was setting the curve for three physics classes on the final... 107 out of 110 points... to which our teacher said, "Not bad for a girl."
I smiled and thought, "Not bad, for any of these guys."
So it goes.
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