Weeks after some Asian American lawmakers killed a measure to restore affirmative action in California’s public colleges by withdrawing their support, backlash from Democrats who supported the effort is surfacing in the Capitol and on the campaign trail...I guess they have to hang together or else hang separately.
On Monday, several members of the Legislature’s black and Latino caucuses withheld their votes on a non-controversial bill, killing a measure by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi. Last week, six black and Latino Democrats sent Sen. Ted Lieu a letter withdrawing their endorsement in his race for Congress. Muratsuchi and Lieu are both Asian Americans and Democrats from Torrance.
Here's a quote just dripping with hyprocrisy:
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said he plans to convene a public forum in the coming weeks where supporters of affirmative action – including several Asian American groups – will talk about how to bring race-conscious decision-making back to California colleges.I have nothing but 4-letter words to say in response to that.
The discussion, so far, he said, has been too harsh.
“The way that this debate and discussion has been had so far shows the danger in deliberately trying to divide people along racial and ethnic lines,” Steinberg said. “That’s not the way we should be having a very important discussion.” (emphasis mine--Darren)
So, what do we do? There are sooooo many problems with how we deal with publicly funded higher education in CA, it's ridiculous. I agree strongly that the best students should be able to get in to the best universities... and that 'underrepresented' minorities would be better served by having a culture that promoted education and hard work (as Asians have tended to show ...frequently to a greater degree than the majority culture) rather than thinking of becoming educated as selling out. Or not using English as your primary language ...which actually helps you in school.
ReplyDeleteWe as Californians, passed a proposition designed to eliminate the racial divisions that Darrell Steinberg , claims are harmful ... the UC regents promptly responded by changing the rules to 'fix' the problem without violating the law. Steinberg's comment ... is the opposite of what I voted for. I don't want racial divisions; I want people capable of succeeding in college being there. And I want everyone to have an equal chance of being there.