Noel S. Williams – It’s almost laughable, but whenever I turn on my TV, I’m confronted by an alternate reality: white males are dotards, whereas minorities, seemingly the majority in every commercial, are practically perfect. Maybe that’s true in the White House, but not at large. This representation of minorities as over-achieving heroes may assuage DIE sensibilities, but it will not narrow the persistent achievement gaps.
In the movie Being There, Peter Sellers plays Chance (Chauncey) Gardiner. Chauncey has connections, is presentable, and dons nice clothes. He is also really stupid, which may be why the intelligentsia hang on his every word. His “wisdom” comes from two endeavors: gardening and watching TV. Actually, TV so represents his reality that if he were watching today, he’d presume that white people, especially males, are a bumbling minority. Continue reading
Mark Andrew Dwyer – The meaning of the term “affirmative action” has changed dramatically over the last six decades. Although it first showed up in the Wagner Act in 1935, it was John F. Kennedy who started it on its modern trajectory in 1961 when he issued an executive order holding that the federal government had an affirmative duty to treat its employees “without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin.” With the Civil Rights Act of 1964, these protected characteristics were extended to cover sex, religion and, thanks to the Supreme Court, gender identity.