In Defense of True Affirmative Action,Diversity and Justice

"Whenever this issue [compensatory treatment] is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree, but should ask for nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but is not realistic. For it is obvious that if a man enters the starting line of a race three hundred years after another man, the second would have to perform some incredible feat in order to catch up."
"A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for him, to equip him to compete on a just and equal basis."
"... for 15 centuries the Negro was enslaved and robbed of any wages — potential accrued wealth which would have been the legacy of his descendants. All of America's wealth today could not adequately compensate its Negroes for his centuries of exploitation and humiliation. It is an economic fact that a program such as I propose would certainly cost far less than any computation of two centuries of unpaid wages plus accumulated interest. In any case, I do not intend that this program of economic aid should apply only to the Negro: it should benefit the disadvantaged of all races."
--Dr. Martin Luther King

Hey Fam,
I just wanted to share with you all some very interesting and thought provoking ideas and perspectives on the controversial and sensitive issue known as Affirmative Action...Please view the info provided below as always with open minds and hearts...Feel free to share what you think!!! Also make sure you also check out my post feautring the interview of Lani Guinier concerning 'meritocracy' myth.
Bro. R2

http://oregonstate.edu/~stolleer/blog/2006/03/04/affirmative-action/
http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/rocka.html
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=184
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/freelance/whiteprivilege.htm
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/%7Erjensen/articles_race.html
http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/02/15/whites.only.ap/
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/04needs/affirm23.htm