I thought I’d take a moment to lay out for our readers how individual action in the context of a community CAN help change the status quo, particularly when it comes to political power and representation in the U.S. Here is step-by-step look at the BIG PICTURE.
1) First, let me take you back to July 31st (just two weeks ago) when Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. released its poll regarding the Virgina Senate race:
U.S. Sen. George Allen leads Jim Webb for re-election but may be threatened by voter distaste for the Iraq war and President Bush, according to The Times-Dispatch Poll.
Popular and well-known, the Republican senator is favored for a second term by 48 percent, while Democrat Webb, still struggling to get out his name and message, is backed by 32 per cent. Twenty percent are undecided.
That the support for Allen, the state’s dominant Republican for more than a decade, is under 50 percent suggests he is handicapped by anti-GOP sentiment, much of it attributed to uncertainty over Iraq…As an early snapshot of a race that could help decide control of the Senate, the poll suggests Allen is using the advantages of incumbency, including a huge edge in fundraising, to navigate potential hazards. [Link]
2) When that first domino fell, the Democratic leadership decided to strategically cut their losses and run. They wrote off both Webb and Virgina:
To hear national Democratic party leaders tell it, Democrat James Webb has a solid chance of ousting Republican Sen. George Allen this fall.
“You might find Cinderella in Virginia,” Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told Congressional Quarterly this spring. “Allen’s numbers are not very strong.”
But in the first major spending decision of the fall campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee – which Schumer heads – took a pass on Virginia.
The committee, which helps elect Democratic senators, has reserved a reported $25 million worth of television ads in states where Republican incumbents are considered vulnerable. Virginia is not one of them.
The spending plan, first reported by The Associated Press, came within days of a Mason-Dixon poll showing Allen leading Webb by 16 percentage points. [Link]
3) In the very same article Sen. George Allen is questioned about his seemingly easy path to victory in November and offers these ominously prophetic words:
Allen, a first-term senator seeking re-election as he contemplates a 2008 presidential run, tried to avoid a smile when told of the Democrats’ plan not to target his Senate seat for early advertising money.
“You put money where you think it can have an impact in close races,” said Allen, past chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “But from our perspective, we need to be prepared for an onslaught. We could be hit with an onslaught at any time…” [Link]
4) Allen directs an alleged racial slur at a young Indian American male at a campaign rally and backs it up with a “welcome to America.” This affects not only our community but all minority communities since Allen has a good shot at the Whitehouse. Indian Americans, both Democrats and Republicans together acted to call out hypocrisy within our own community and proceeded to lay out a plan of action for what we could do:
Subodh Chandra said:<
p>As a former candidate, I’d like to try to focus on what is what is needed. ACTION.
I ask you to do a few things in order of importance.
(1) Make a financial contribution to James Webb’s senate campaign right now: Never mind that Webb is a fantastic, distinguished candidate: war hero, best-selling novelist, former Secretary of the Navy, a former Republican who finally had enough. Because there are lots of great candidates. Webb is your best weapon for punishing Allen and sending a message right now to those like Allen that we “Macacas” are the “real America.” Whether it’s $25, $250, or $2,100 (the individual maximum), a lot of us doing what we can gives Webb the resources he needs to put a bully in his place. Webb needs resources. If you don’t take this simple step (every reader of this blog can afford SOMETHING–I just plunked down $200 and I’m broke after my own campaign), you are basically saying you don’t care if Allen wins. Seriously… [Link]
5) We acted:
Angry email sent! Truly a pile of steaming macaca.
Allen’s comments were unbelievable. Reminded me of being a “Jungle Bunny” in third grade.
By the way, did I mention t-shirts? Yes, my mother was right after all. I have no shame.
I made up some funny t-shirts and other stuff to celebrate the end of Allen’s campaign. Thought you might want to check it out.
I’m donating 30% of the profit to Allen’s competitor, Democratic candidate Jim Webb.
http://www.cafepress.com/macacashop [Link]
<
p>and we acted some more:
1. Email to sent to IARC. (hope they squirm after reading it)
2. $$ Donation(generous & a first time) to James Webb.
3. Letter to NY Times Editor – more coverage requested.
4. My yahoogroups contacts asked to Go To Step 1 and repeat!!… [Link]
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p>By the way. The NY Times Editor heard you. But we weren’t done. USINPAC, which usually only gets involved in issues also affecting Indians in India (a habit that I have criticized in the past) made damn sure they weren’t going to risk your wrath (the way the IARC did) by sitting out of this one. I remain convinced that someone on the USINPAC committee has been following all of you comments on this blog and knew they would be in trouble with you all if they didn’t show some backbone.
<
p>6) We kept up the pressure. “Macaca” is the number one search word on Technorati (a blogosphere search engine) right now. In the past, this sort of thing would have been buried within one newscycle (if it had even made the light of day). Everyone is talking about this because you guys are letting everyone know that this is important to you. Another of our commenters offered this:
… i donated to webb’s campaign. nowhere near 200 bucks, but hey. hope it helps. [Link]
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p>7) It did help, because your collective actions caused the Democrats to wake up and send in the Big Dog to help augment the momentum that you are building with your small donations. Virginia it seems is back in play and worth dedicating resources to all of a sudden, because all of you made it so. Clinton doesn’t particularly like Webb so it is pretty clear that the Democratic leadership is sending him in like a soldier, whereas before it wasn’t even on the table.
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p>
Money, so far, has been Webb’s biggest hurdle that he has yet to clear. A visit from the Big Dog will not only rake in a significant dollar sum for Webb’s campaign, but it will also send the signal to national donors that Webb may well be worth the investment. Furthermore–and we saw this attempted by Joe Lieberman a few weeks ago–a Clinton visit will hopefully help boost Jim Webb’s appeal among African-Americans (a group that Webb’s primary opponent, Harris Miller, sought to carve away from his camp). Now that Sen. Allen is knee-deep in mucaca, you’ve got to believe that minority communities all across Virginia are shopping around for someone a bit more respectable. [Link]
Things might not work out how we hope for but at least we begin to see how our actions matter. In the immortal words of John “Hannibal” Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Keep mutineering yo.
Where did you get the numbers on the black underclass being 1/4rth of the black population (they sound reasonable though) What are the numbers for the white underclass?
its a number i see quoted in the black conservative literature, but i’m pretty sure it is contingent upon “poverty for family of four.” i do believe that the white poor are a smaller %, perhaps like 10% of whites, but, that means that the majority of poor in this nation are still white.
poverty statistics (census). 24% of blacks are in poverty.
George Felix Allen’s “blog“. Funny, though I am sure his people will soon have it pulled down.
its a number i see quoted in the black conservative literature, but i’m pretty sure it is contingent upon “poverty for family of four.” i do believe that the white poor are a smaller %, perhaps like 10% of whites, but, that means that the majority of poor in this nation are still white.
10% seems about right. I think most people realize that there are a lot of poor white people. No one is in his right mind will think that there are more poor black people than poor white people in total. I am actually surprised that the black underclass is only 1/4rth though. The rate of black single moms, black men with criminal records, home ownership as a percentage, college education is much much higher to similar numbers as a percentage for white people.
Black poverty is so problematic for people like me because its in your face.
true. the problem is the correlation between race and poverty and low academic achievement. that’s why HMF’s rambling about white privilege isn’t that relevant, you can’t pick a legacy out in the crowd by sight alone. that’s why i’m addressing the issue of black stigma. it isn’t like the large average differences in entrance requirements are a secret. but who cares? i don’t anymore. black professionals who don’t want the stigma should just do something with their hair (straighten or shave it) and say they are dark skinned indians 🙂
The rate of black single moms, black men with criminal records, home ownership as a percentage, college education is much much higher to similar numbers as a percentage for white people.
well, for example, black singles moms, i believe that the regression (ie, expectation(single mom) = Y(college)) is diff. for blacks and whites. many college educated black women are single moms. there is a cultural difference in how acceptable/normal this is.
Poor whites didn’t suffer the type of discrimination blacks did.
Like it or not, we are judged by our imputed collectivities, and I believe there is a bias against blacks in this country, though political correctness has had the effect of nearly eliminating anti-black public discourse.
Those blacks who passed their medical boards are qualified, and helped create the black middle class.
I would also support AA for Mexican Americans. The browning of this country will attenuate the already waning majoritarianism, and national integration is at stake.
Or everyone left out can riot and make things very interesting. The level of inequality in this country is rising fast.
Tick tock…
Those blacks who passed their medical boards are qualified, and helped create the black middle class.
if they passed their medical boards they probably didn’t need affirmative action. a black middle class did exist before affirmative action.
I would also support AA for Mexican Americans. The browning of this country will attenuate the already waning majoritarianism, and national integration is at stake.
affirmative action impedes integration by placing people into collective boxes. this country doesn’t need to get any browner. there’s enough segregation and “community consciousness” as it is. the majority needs to absorb the minority.
in any case, ignore my assertions. my premises are so deviated from the consensus on this blog any reasonable dialogue probably isn’t possible. later.
Being in the middle class does not alleviate one from falling victim to mainstream perceptions. An african american senior systems engineer with 10 years in my old company, would every now and then get mistaken for a janitor. No joke. To think societies proclivity for pigeonholing black males in particular, into entertainment, professional athletes and narcotic trafficking only applies to the underclass is incorrect. although it’s heightened. Believe me, a black doctor, engineer is continually being questioned and second guessed all the same – by the same people who love Michael Jordan, Eddie Murphy, et all… (why wouldn’t they question these people in their respective functions in society with the same fervor?)
…and yet, for many, this space isn’t “progressive” enough.
“Believe me, a black doctor, engineer is continually being questioned and second guessed all the same – by the same people who love Michael Jordan, Eddie Murphy, et all… ” What does loving Michael Jordan or Eddie Murphy have to do with trusting engineers and doctors? Those guys are entertainment. There is no sweat involved in “loving” them. Far as the professionals you refer to, razib-the-atheist gave a pretty good analysis of why this unfair state of affairs will continue. Whatever good affirmative action does for blacks, increasing professional trust isn’t one of them. Some black academics in the sciences make their scholastic records public so it will be known that their position was earned through intellectual merit, and it’s kind of sad they feel compelled to do that.
When it comes to life and death matters, while I’d go with recommendations, I tend to choose Indian doctors when I can, partly for the comfort level, partly because I know they had to have been pretty good to succeed. Or maybe Jewish as long as they don’t have bigoted relatives in Virginia.
That’s kind of my point, I was being sarcastic and rhetorical with the question. There exist internalized biases that prevent white majorities to see black people properly functioning as anything other than frivolous entertainment pieces, Imagine the psychological tennis a white person in the 60s had to play with himself, when going to see Ray Charles in a packed Georgia dome or wherever, and feeling entranced by that “black music” all the while disgusted that his kids might one day attend the same school as Ray’s kids.
not being a white 60s concert goer, I can’t answer that. Anyway, to judge from my friend’s mom’s description of Beatles, Stones, and Jimi Hendrix performances, they were “entranced” by a whole lot of things back then, but its the 21st century now. People I’ve talked about this stuff with, few people, other than rabid segregationists in the south were freaked by a few blacks in their kids’ schools because the blacks were often from exceptional families anyway. As razib the atheist mentioned, middle class blacks in the north were not subject to official LEGAL discrimination in the 40s and 50s and were usually well treated in schools and jobs because the whites wanted to show how tolerant they were, maybe the influence of Eleanor Roosevelt, proto-liberal according to one of my teachers. Another friend’s dad was a technician (black) at NASA in 50s and 60s. He didn’t have much to say about bad treatment though he felt he could go only so far. Back then, though, blacks who got in had to do it on merit, and he admitted he was proud of himself. Yeah, I expect he got the surprised looks sometimes, but that can happen to others: females of any race get that too in science, and a Chinese guy would have to go a long way to prove himself on the football field no matter how big and skilled he was. As far as the schools go, I guess it’s a matter of percentages. Above a certain percentage of AAs, the schools change drastically and whites split. I think razib the atheist is right about the non-wisdom extending affirmative action to Hispancs. You’re pretty much asking the non-recipients of affirmative action–including us Asians because I am an American citizen–to hang themselves after paying for the noose. I mean that could be 80% of the population of Mexico if they had their way. You want to send people deeper into their ethnic cells, do that. Most people accept that some allowance has to be made for blacks who were brought here by force, and really did go through a long era of limited opportunity. But Hispanics? It would be more cost-effective to pay them to stay where they are though I don’t know why the hell my taxes should go for it.
That’s why I used the word ‘imagine’
Brown v Board of education was passed in 1954. That means blacks all around were barred from entering white schools earlier, if the 14th amendment was authentic, such an act wouldn’t even be necessary. Your implied contention that everything was honky dory for blacks in the north during the 1940’s and 50s is laughable at best and an Orwellian rewriting of history at worst.
If you don’t think there is a systematic residual belief that regards blacks as general miscreants, in a large scale “civilizational” sense, I feel you are gravely mistaken. It’s to counteract these systemic beliefs that programs like AA are implemented, and have made very little dent. Whites still control a disproportionate amount of top positions, etc.. etc.. AA isn’t the big boogey monster most whites, and sorry to say, asians and south asians make it out to be.
for the love of Shiva, who said I thought “everything was hunky dory for blacks in the 1950s”. Har har. In the federal agency where I work it is hard to find a white face in the hallways or a budget in the black. Browns are sort of tolerated. There is money to be made in keeping that victim status going as long as possible. A lot of careers hang on it. Desis take care of themselves well enough but I do shudder at some of the Asians who try to jump that gravy train. Like razib atheist I don’t care about affirmative action as long as it is restricted to blacks. It ruins any hope of sincerely felt respect for professional blacks in general, but it does give more blacks the chance to say they graduated from schools that whites pretty much created for themselves, fars I can see. South Asians and East Asians earn respect because they don’t ask for special treatment–they beat the white man at his own game often enough.
When one makes statements like “Blacks were not legally discriminated etc… ” the implied contention is they faced no barriers from then on.
I get it. You like the guy. AA should be used wherever people have faced and continue to face barriers.
And herein lies the irony, if there was no programs such as AA, blacks and disenfranchised people would not be given chances (because of already pre-existing, systemic biases) to prove themselves and gain the respect you so wish for them to have. And when programs such as AA are implemented, you so easily flip the script and say “Well these programs demean them because they give them special privelages and prevent them respect for hard work, achievement”
HM: Do you ever have an original thought on this subject? You sound like a screed from the a 1970s liberal rag in my old sociology textbook. Nobody is stopping them from achieving. If anyone is found doing that, arrest them and lock them up. At this point the ball is in their court. How can anybody acquit themselves of charges of “systemic bias”? The losers make the rules in this situation. If any group (your pick) continues to perform below the norm no matter what the advantages offered them, are the higher achievers supposed to continue to feel guilty about it? Some of my ancestors in India were real turds in the hole from what I understand, but I don’t lose any sleep or any money over it. That was them. The sands of residual white guilt are fast running out and people sort of know this. A lot of desis are actually in America for reasons not a million miles removed from affirmative action. I think you know what I’m talking about. Do you feel guilty about stuff your ancestors did there? More money is spent on education here in my town, 80% black, than almost anywhere else in the country. They still have very poor performance. People have more opportunities than ever before in history, either in their countries of origin or elsewhere, and its still whah whah whah. I wasn’t brought up that way and neither were my desis I know, but there is a danger of falling into that. Affirmative Action here or in India, is a bizarre and well intentioned departure from the norm of human behavior, but don’t push it beyond its original intent. What’s the answer? All you can spout is more party line HM. Amy Chu’s “World on Fire” sort of concludes, “Answer? no answer. Everybody’s out for themselves and the more different peoples come into contact with each other, the more conflict, with a certain element of intellectuals relating pretty well across cultural racial divides. The future “world power”? My money is on the Chinese and to them “affirmative action” means Chinese.
Razib, in any case, ignore my assertions. my premises are so deviated from the consensus on this blog any reasonable dialogue probably isn’t possible. later.
I personally think you are right on the money on this. I enjoy reading your comments. And I respect your argument by numbers approach. I think an affirmative action program based on the [race, income level] tuple would make a lot more sense, and might in fact actually work, rather than one solely based on race. Finally, I think there might be a second (read conservative) consensus on the blog as well.
None of this is probably new to you, but I believe that a very similar problem with the system of “reservations” exists in India. The people who benefit from this in the case of education are mostly those who are in the middle class. This is because the ratio of number of seats to the number of people is very low, so you are virtually guaranteed that a person could feasibly make it into the elite institutions only if he/se had the appropriate educational oppportunities. This problem gets magnified in government jobs because it means that those who get “reservation” have a faster career track because the effect simply multiplies. If you are the only scheduled caste person at a certain level (and there are not many at the higher levels), you are obviously going to get that promotion as long as you meet all the other criteria.
However, I also think that there is certainly a problem in that if you are poor AND of a scheduled caste (same as if you are poor AND black), then it is much more difficult than if you are only one of the two (or, of course, neither). (With the current system, if you are poor AND underprivileged, you are probably WORSE off because the number of positions open to you has gone DOWN since “reservation” does take away a certain fraction of seats.) It is not surprising that there is a movement among the OBCs to get reservation. Many years have gone by and they have not seen any of the benefits of reservation. In fact, only a net loss.
Do you ever have an original thought on this subject?
see y i withdrew from the discussion? wutz the point in engaging a bot?
Must be an informative rag.
Unless of course, the people in charge of arresting are the ones stopping them from achieving.
Actually I have no clue what you’re talking about. Please elaborate. By actually calling it “white guilt” it’s clear you haven’t a single clue as to what I’ve been talking about. There is a world of difference between guilt and responsibility.
If there is a point to this sentence sequence, I’d like to know it.
ZX421-13 Error in parsing text. System reboot.
HMF:
How about political compromise, which by definition will displease both sides. We keep affirmative action (the lowering standards type) but restrict it only to african americans (and perhaps native americans) as a recognition of their special circustance (ie, being victims of government enforced discrimination). We can even throw in a provision that says the federal governemt will withhold funds to any university that gives preference to legacies. That should help even the playing field.
As far as other under-performing individuals whose ancestors did not arrive on slave ships, we can focus on programs (like school choice) that aim at early childhood intervention by helping the so called “shackled runner” run faster rather than shortening the track.
Both sides issues are (imperfectly) addressed.
How about political compromise, which by definition will displease both sides. We keep affirmative action (the lowering standards type) but restrict it only to african americans (and perhaps native americans) as a recognition of their special circustance (ie, being victims of government enforced discrimination). We can even throw in a provision that says the federal governemt will withhold funds to any university that gives preference to legacies. That should help even the playing field.
I would add an economic criterion to any affirmative action program, since otherwise, over time, the program tends to lose focus.
We have the bizarre example of Tamil Nadu in India where 69% of the seats are reserved, which means that with the law, which has been in effect for more than a decade. With this, they made it more than 3 times harder for somebody who was poor and underprivileged to get into a college than before.
I would add an economic criterion to any affirmative action program, since otherwise, over time, the program tends to lose focus.
won’t work if you add an economic criterion. look at HMF’s comments above, they do have a grain of truth in connecting the black middle class to affirmative action. personally, i think something approaching a black middle class (though smaller) would exist without affirmative action, but the reality is that the main supporters of AA are middle class and they want their kids to keep it. set asides from contracts, schools, gov. jobs, moral suasion through corporate jobs (and the threat of lawsuits) are not something that low income blacks really are normally affected by.
so restrict it to blacks & native americans so as to keep their non-poor classes happy. cynical, but at least it will keep the contagion restricted. as long as HMOs don’t force you to have a black doctor the stigma won’t affect you.
“see y i withdrew from the discussion? wutz the point in engaging a bot?”
yes, now I do. sigh.
Manju:
Absolutely, I acquiesce that AA is by no means a panacea. But quoting single studies about “Well, such and such people who had 10% less performance on test scores while such and such had 4% higher” etc.. etc.. ignores larger macroscopic issues, such as widespread institutional biases, and internalized inferority. In fact, many studies have been done to show that when tests are administered where it doesn’t “count” per say, sort of an academic scrimmage match if you will, racial differences in performance are negligible.
What this tells us is not that one group is inherently underperforming exclusively, rather could be inflicted by deep seated feelings of self-depradation (which I agree, is not solely for the “oppressor” to correct)
A simple, but very telling example is from one of MLK’s speeches (for you conservatives out there, he’s the “content of your character” guy), where he shows the dictionary as having 18 second tier definitions for the word black, all with negative connotations- and says every day black children in school have 18 reasons to put themselves down. Ignoring this history, and blindly quoting studies made in the present could be problematic.
won’t work if you add an economic criterion.
The economic criterion would be a curve. Some seats would only be open if you are poor AND underprivileged. Some seats would be open even if you are just unerprivileged.
they do have a grain of truth in connecting the black middle class to affirmative action, personally, i think something approaching a black middle class (though smaller) would exist without affirmative action
Yes, but it is not true that the black middle class would not have existed without affirmative action. Check out the wikipedia entry on Affirmative Action :
What about the notion that affirmative action has helped blacks rise out of poverty? The black poverty rate was cut in half before affirmative action — and has barely changed since then.
I have seen more than one scholar argue for economic considerations to be added.
As an African-American male, I should add however, despite that AA(Affirmative Action) “benefits” blacks and Latinos, the largest recipients/beneficiaries of AA ironically are white…actually white women. Affimative Action helps or benefits (racial) minorities and women. Doesn’t say what race of women, but women in general. And just by coincidence, white females make the majority of the female population in America. So go figure.
“Affimative Action helps or benefits (racial) minorities and women.” You may be right about that, but the academic/professional qualifications require much less compromise with regard to white/Asian females, unless you are talking about the hard sciences. In law and business, women don’t really need special consideration to be considered qualified since their academic records are usually competitive for the kinds of jobs they seek. However, it’s easier to find qualified white/Asian females for filling quotas, than blacks of either gender. I think that’s one reason why it is still extended to them, because I don’t think they really need it anymore.
Subodh,
Awed by your op-ed but even more by your parenting philosophy and your children’s names.
I quoted from your comments here on SM on my blog–hope that’s ok. It’ll be such a nice surprise for the four other people who read my blog to encounter something other than my prattle 🙂
All the very best as your and your family shoulder the hopes of the rest of us.
Subodh,
So awed by your op-ed but even more by your parenting philosophy and your children’s names.
I quoted from your comments here on SM on my blog–hope that’s ok. It’ll be such a nice surprise for the four other people who read my blog to encounter something other than my prattle 🙂
All the very best as your and your family shoulder the hopes of many of us.