Jefferson, MLK, & Affirmative Action
Thomas Jefferson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. should have rolled 180 degrees in their graves upon hearing the landmark June 23, 2003 Supreme Court's reiteration of the University Michigan's School Of Law affirmative action enrollment policies.
Affirmative action was first implemented in March of 1961 when President Kennedy decided to react to many years of racial prejudice against African-Americans, from being private property of plantation owners, all the way to the subjection of post-Jim Crowe , Southern segregationalist policies.
Scribesman of the Declaration Of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote in this most sacred document, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. Simply said, he means that all people are created equal, even though at the time, the only people were white, caucasian males. In order for Jefferson to help organize the great experiment, the United States Government, he had to begrudgingly deal with these important matters of the day, which included slavery [Jefferson On Slavery].
If Jefferson was currently walking the earth, he would be equally as shocked over the treatment of whites in discriminatory hiring practices as the black's bondage into slavery during the colonial days.
"In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." [Martin Luther King Junior's I Had A Dream Speech : August 28, 1963]
My interpretation of the above statement is that every man has the right to live in a "color-blind society," period. In addition, he has the responsibility to allow others to live as equally as him. Equality is equality if it pertains to African-Americans, Whites, Native-Americans, Latin-Americans, Asian-Americans, etc. Why should it be that a certain race has preferencial treatment because their skin color is dark [as in this case]?
Jefferson would no doubt slam his fist to the table upon hearing about "reverse discrimination." Contrary to "Jeffersonian Theory", there is evidence that King supported affirmative action during his life, but he might have eventually changed his mind later on because the landscape of America has radically altered. Present day African-Americans are economically more sound than thirty years ago. It has become common place to encounter them in numerous upper-level jobs, while many more have even jumped into the investment game. Sure, lots of prejudice is still targeted towards African-Americans, but why should anybody have an up on another due to the recent American phenomenon of "victimization?"
Pro-affirmative action policies propels itself against the spirit of Jefferson and [maybe] King. Why should an artificial barrier be placed in order to supposedly make up for many years of oppression? The more just outcome would be equal hiring practices, which could possibly mark the closest we have done to achieve utopia in years.
http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/newsjunkie/libertarian.html
[home]
Affirmative action was first implemented in March of 1961 when President Kennedy decided to react to many years of racial prejudice against African-Americans, from being private property of plantation owners, all the way to the subjection of post-Jim Crowe , Southern segregationalist policies.
Scribesman of the Declaration Of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote in this most sacred document, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. Simply said, he means that all people are created equal, even though at the time, the only people were white, caucasian males. In order for Jefferson to help organize the great experiment, the United States Government, he had to begrudgingly deal with these important matters of the day, which included slavery [Jefferson On Slavery].
If Jefferson was currently walking the earth, he would be equally as shocked over the treatment of whites in discriminatory hiring practices as the black's bondage into slavery during the colonial days.
"In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." [Martin Luther King Junior's I Had A Dream Speech : August 28, 1963]
My interpretation of the above statement is that every man has the right to live in a "color-blind society," period. In addition, he has the responsibility to allow others to live as equally as him. Equality is equality if it pertains to African-Americans, Whites, Native-Americans, Latin-Americans, Asian-Americans, etc. Why should it be that a certain race has preferencial treatment because their skin color is dark [as in this case]?
Jefferson would no doubt slam his fist to the table upon hearing about "reverse discrimination." Contrary to "Jeffersonian Theory", there is evidence that King supported affirmative action during his life, but he might have eventually changed his mind later on because the landscape of America has radically altered. Present day African-Americans are economically more sound than thirty years ago. It has become common place to encounter them in numerous upper-level jobs, while many more have even jumped into the investment game. Sure, lots of prejudice is still targeted towards African-Americans, but why should anybody have an up on another due to the recent American phenomenon of "victimization?"
Pro-affirmative action policies propels itself against the spirit of Jefferson and [maybe] King. Why should an artificial barrier be placed in order to supposedly make up for many years of oppression? The more just outcome would be equal hiring practices, which could possibly mark the closest we have done to achieve utopia in years.
http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/newsjunkie/libertarian.html
[home]
Labels: Affirmative Action, Libertarianism, Martin Luther King, Rascism, Thomas Jefferson
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