Who Needs Affirmative Action? Not Middle-Class African Americans.
with John McWhorter
Racial preferences in affirmative action are most likely on their way out the door. John and I both think that’s going to be a good thing for the country. But some, like the historian Richard Rothstein, argue that racial preferences need to stay, even for middle-class African Americans who are perfectly capable of getting into college without it. In this clip from our most recent conversation, John explains why affirmative action proponents like Rothstein are living in the past.
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I put this comment up on the YouTube video, but will leave it here as well...
I have a bunch of ideas on this, and I admit that I will not be able to share them all. First of all, white people have a "Protective Benevolence Narrative" in their treatment and view of Black people. Basically, we are pets who need "Massa" to keep us safe and nurture us to success. This is the point-of-view that "the good white folks", mostly left-wing classic liberals, have had for years and years. I would contest John's point about the necessity of that point of view even back in the 60s. Note: I am not saying that racism was not horrible (and more virulent) back then. Instead, I submit that once you deploy "preferential treatment" in the way it is currently contemplated--and frankly this applies to historic affirmative action--there is NO DATE after which it should go away. If you put a cast on a broken limb, you heal it, and you know that you must take it off as soon as possible. If you put a cast on a healthy limb, you weaken it enough that you might never be able to use the limb without "help" or special care. Treating black people like healthy limbs upon which casts have been applied has no long-term upside, and no obvious end point. That CANNOT be good. Further, and maybe tangentially, many if not most black people are familiar with the Tuskegee Airmen. They are revered for their performance. They reputedly never lost a plane they were guarding. Their flying skills were legendary. Why? Because they were trained harder and more strenuously (and likely unfairly) compared to white pilots of the time. Simply put, they WERE better pilots, as a result. I feel more hopeful letting the chips fall where they may than hoping they can slant the system forever. In any event, I am unsure if what I am trying to say makes sense, but at least it is off my chest.
As Thomas Sowell says, affirmative action just results in a mismatch between the student and the university. Unfortunately, then a lot of students end up failing out or just quitting when they probably would have been one of the top students at a different university.