On the John

Affirmative Action and Michigan's Proposal 2

Completed on November 8, 2006

“The University of Michigan is back, and this time, it’s personal. Proposal 2: The Revenge. Affirmative Action: consider yourself warned.” 

---sound bite from the trailer to the super-cool hit action movie “Proposal 2”

I’ve got something to admit. I’ve been lying. There is, in fact, no movie coming out called Proposal 2. But sometimes I think this whole Affirmative Action debate would be best settled within the confines of a Hollywood blockbuster. Lots of yelling, lots of overdramatic sobbing, lots of inane dialogue and plot twists and characters speaking in big important words while making zero sense. It’ll be just like real life, only we’ll pay 8.50 to see it! It’ll be great! 

And why not? Indeed, that’s what we’ve got now. The Affirmative Action “dialogue” in our country is nothing more than a big budget action movie with little connection to the real world. 

Yesterday’s election saw the state of Michigan passing Proposal 2 with 58% of the vote, yet regardless of the vote’s outcome, Prop 2 was another example of why race relations in our country are horribly misunderstood yet terribly important. Debate about Affirmative Action all you want; it’s not the problem. Never has been, never will be. No, the problem is that our boat has a giant hole in the floor, and we’re arguing over what kind of chewing gum we should use to plug it. Even with all of its flaws—and it is heavily flawed—Affirmative Action, the system itself, is not the problem. The problem is the need for the system. 

After all, when does Affirmative Action usually come into the public discussion? The earliest—earliest—is when the subject is eighteen years old. We rarely hear about it concerning high schools or grade schools. Nope, only college and beyond. That means that for every person who becomes an Affirmative Action candidate, we had at least eighteen years to make the situation right. Eighteen years! Yet instead of fixing the problem, we chose instead to ignore the problem and hope for a magical resolution, and then failing that, to yell at each other.

The flaws with the system itself are so obvious and deep-rooted, I’m surprised that it’s still considered a viable problem-solving option. All hail Affirmative Action! The great Catch-22 of our times! On the one hand, you can’t in good faith pass over a qualified applicant for a spot at a university or a law school or a job in order to hand that opportunity to a less-qualified applicant simply because the latter is of a certain color or culture. It is, dare I say, un-American. On the other hand, how can one reasonably expect a person with significantly fewer resources to fairly and evenly compete for a job or a spot in school with someone who has been given an enormous head start? No good, right? Un-American, once again.

There has been much talk recently about the fall of the G.O.P. and the resurgence of the Democratic party, and certainly yesterday’s elections went a long way to backing that theory up. The Democrats have succeeded! Well that’s super. Instead of hard-headed confidence on one side, we’ll now have it on the other. Nancy Pelosi and co. may implement different policies than did their Republican counterparts, but will their approach to government be any different? My guess: no. This has probably been the most substantial problem with the current red-blue debates that go on in our country. Each group stands firmly on their own side, supremely terrified that taking a step towards compromise and understanding makes you weak.

On the left, we have environment. On the right, we have individualism. The “Liberal” stance on Affirmative Action suggests that you are where you came from, and nothing more. “Conservatives,” naturally, go the other way, saying that you are what you do, and nothing more. Of course the correct answer lies with our parents—as, admittedly, most correct answers always do—as it was our parents who looked down at us while our stomachs pained from a night of non-stop chocolate consumption and told us ever-so-gently that life is about balance.

Environment vs. personal responsibility. We need improvement in both. As for the former, we hear a lot of talk about small government vs. big government. How about responsible government, as in a government that feels responsible for the well-being of its citizenry? That’d be nice. America’s biggest failure is that we’ve allowed capitalism to overrun our sense of social responsibility. Only when the people’s basic needs are accounted for can our government and our society be deemed a success.

But that could take a while, and in the meantime it’s up to underprivileged Americans to take responsibility for themselves. Many Americans, blacks in particular, have been dealt a bad hand. Is it their fault? Certainly not. It’s shameful and it’s wrong. But there’s no use arguing reality, and the reality is that underprivileged Americans are going to have to work harder than many others in order to accomplish their educational, economic, and career goals. It is what it is. If they won’t give it to you, then you have to take it. Not steal it, take it. 

Affirmative Action? No thanks. What we need is a major change in attitude, both for ourselves and for our government. Eighteen years. That’s plenty of time to change a bad situation. Either that, or pass me some Wrigley’s. We’ve got a big problem here.

Copyright 2006, jm silverstein