More dialogue needed on affirmative action

COMMENTARY

You are an affront to God! You're a Nazi! You don't know your history!

Such are the accusations hurled blindly at those who do not jump on the affirmative action bandwagon.

Oh, you didn't hear? By word or deed, Rev. Jesse Jackson would have you know that when you go up against him, you go up against God, who is for affirmative action.

And Gov. Pete Wilson? If you oppose affirmative action, you are supporting him, and if you haven't been watching the news lately, nearly every nonwhite political action group in California has added the swastika to their fictitious "reelect Pete" banners.

In the affirmative action debate in the '90s, opposing sides do not view each other as groups with legitimate reasons for their point of view, but see the opposition as often misguided and evil.

How did we lose the ability or the will to hear out each other's problems and points of view? It seems the mainstream (of Caucasians) gained this ability only about 30 years ago where race is concerned. I don't think we've lost it all in such a short time.

Seeing how powerful the history argument is, it is no wonder that some Caucasians vote to support affirmative action. But what about parents? To those whose child is ready to enter college, voting for affirmative action is not only voting against themselves, but against their child's or children's future.

How about so-called "white trash?" Yes, there are poor Caucasians, even if they are outnumbered by the "economically disadvantaged" from other races. Again, it is ludicrous to ask these people to take even small steps toward righting a historical wrong.

For them to vote for affirmative action would be like saying "I'm out of work, I live day to day, I receive (gasp) welfare, my kids goes to school with holes in their shoes, but because my great great great great great grandfather just might have owned your great great great great great grandfather, I guess affirmative action is OK."

For both of these groups, righting the historical wrong is a luxury they either cannot afford, or cannot be expected to repay.

To them, and any other Caucasian whose position in life is not locked in concrete, the historical argument can easily and legitimately ignored. They personally have never owned slaves, hunted down Native Americans, whipped Asians to work faster on the railroads, or fought Latinos in one expansionist war or another in America's past.

Many of us recognize the responsibility of our ancestors in these events, and that our socioeconomic status today may have been influenced by them.

However, as long as Caucasians are worried about their own futures as individuals and not groups, most of us will not likely work to right wrongs that we personally had no part in. When should history be a greater factor than personal concern? How much should Caucasians feel responsible for the actions of their ancestors?

Where, when and how should the guilt of a group become transferred upon the individual?

Let me state again that this is not a plea to end affirmative action. I believe that affirmative action has its place as a tie-breaker in admissions, hiring and contracting, and in this manner rights some remaining social wrongs.

But affirmative action as it was implemented in the University of California system, where some Asian Americans have been excluded for over-representation, has made race nearly as important as grades, something neither Pete Wilson nor any other Caucasian can be expected to support.