Invention of the white race

[C. Petersen]

> How can such a brilliant historical analysis be deployed in favor of a
> reactionary position? Well, the anti-affirmative action conclusion doesn't
> follow from the premises. Incidentally the US ruling class is probably
> split on AA; businesses like it, to a point, because it reduces their
> exposure to costly antidiscrimination lawsuits and improves their profile
> with the minority communities. On the other hand the Fortune 500 have not
> exactly welcomed minoritie and women into the executive suite. But I don't
> see how the qualified support some of the US ruling class has for AA bears
> on whether the left should support or oppose it. 

They're having an anti-affirmative action ballot item in Washington State
in the next election. Ward Connerly is coming up here and providing
funding money, and everyone is making a big deal. But at the University of
Washington, which has 30,000 students, perhaps 22,000 undergrads, there
were only 107 black students included in next year's freshman class, and
of these 15% or 17 students were admitted under racial affirmative action
criteria. So thousands of dollars are being spent to keep a couple dozen
of students out. An acquaintance of mine is a really strong leftist who
used to do Black Autonomy newspaper, and he thinks that affirmative action
is a plot to increase the numbers of whites in government. It seems that
80% of the people benefitted in Washington state are white people in the
categories of white women and especially, white vietnam era veterans. And
he's right essentially. If affirmative action programs are currently so
small and affect so few people (and most in the middle class are
completely unaware of this and think that there are massive numbers of
'undeserving' poor who are taking away their slots at the university), it
seems that energy would best be spent trying to support a policy that
would really equalize rich and poor and make up for the inherited effects
of past racism.