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From: gregbo@houxm.UUCP (Greg Skinner)
Newsgroups: net.flame,net.politics
Subject: Re: American(?) Music Awards <>
Message-ID: <1135@houxm.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 13-Feb-85 00:54:12 EST
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Posted: Wed Feb 13 00:54:12 1985
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> From: mjc@cmu-cs-cad.ARPA (Monica Cellio)

>> From: nm34@sdcc12 ? (nm34)
>>     You are forgetting, Scott, that in our country, blacks are
>> different. They have been subjected to centuries of disadvantage. What
>> you are saying is like telling a person who is in a race, where their
>> oponent was given a 10 yard head-start, that its now time for everything
>> to be equal.

> Please explain to me why *I* should be penalized for something my *ancestors*
> did?  

First off, no one is penalizing you!  You are asked to make sacrifices, so that
those who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to do what you have always
had the opportunity to do are given that opportunity.

> Yes, whites in America did something most people consider wrong, years
> ago.  But the people who were hurt by it (the slaves) certainly aren't the o
> nes getting the affirmative action, and the people who did the hurting aren't 
> being punished.  

True, but it is the offspring of slaves that are still being mistreated because
slavery existed, and civil injustice existed when slavery ended.  Again, no one
is being punished, see above.

> Sure, blacks were enslaved and women were treated as 
> inferiors, BUT no one is keeping the blacks here now and no one is forcing 
> women to stay home.  Excuse me if I sound unsympathetic, but I've been asked 
> my race and sex once too often and told that it mattered.  

So, does this mean that blacks are supposed to pack up their things and go back
to Africa?  Is this the only viable solution to the civil rights problem, be-
cause non-minorities are unwilling to right a wrong by making some sacrifices?
If this is what people think, then I am not surprised that there is still
discrimination and prejudice in the USA, and there probably will be until
blacks just go away.  It is not correct to equate the two, acutally, becuase
women were not slaves in the sense that blacks were -- they still had the
freedom to do as they pleased without fear for their lives.  A woman who left
her husband could not be legally brought back to him in chains, whipped, and
forced back into servitude.

> (And for a slightly different angle: how many blacks and women resent
> affirmative action as an indication that they can't get jobs on their own
> merits?)

I'm sure a lot do, however a lot more resent the facts that they can't get jobs
at all because only white males are getting hired.

> I prefer to get hired because I'm qualified, thank you.  And I'd like to know
> that my co-workers are competent, and are really the best people for the job.

I agree.  I wouldn't want to be hired *just because* I'm a minority, however
I wouldn't want *not* to be hired because I was a minority.  Within the guide-
lines of AA (not quota filling) it is possible to fill jobs with qualified
minorities but until AA becomes a standard practice lots of minorities will
lose out on opportunities which non-minorities take for granted. 
-- 
If you wanna ride, don't ride the white horse.

Greg Skinner (gregbo)
{allegra,cbosgd,ihnp4}!houxm!gregbo