California moves to roll-back decades of Civil Rights Progress
Support for eradicating proposition 209 rests on the ground that it is a barrier to practicing ‘affirmative action’, the nice-sounding Orwellian-crafted phrase meaning – in as clear English as possible – racial discrimination.
Being suffocated by the relentless pressure of the cultural revolution, it seems as if events are moving too quickly for us to digest how much Western civilization is being torn apart, brick by brick. The tragic murder of George Floyd in Minnesota last month appears to have been the excuse to deploy the force of the angry mob to accelerate the destruction of our culture, history and civil liberties we hold so dear.
Yet, it was in the land of the United States where the fire was lit, and the flame shows no sign of abating at its source; after all, no one has the courage to hurl the remedy of water onto the fire to extinguish it in fear of being swept into the inferno themselves. Now, it appears that the destruction of history has been immediately followed with its repetition, like a burglar sneaking in the moment the front door’s been left recklessly unlocked.
In the most politically progressive state in the US, the California State Legislature (hereafter ‘CSL’) has moved to overturn proposition 209, which prohibits public school officials, as well as public sector employers, from factoring in physical characteristics, such as race and sex, when examining an application. Perhaps as equally terrifying, the CSL has done this almost without detection – no one seems to care.
Earlier this month, the State Assembly passed the ‘Assembly Constitutional Amendment 5’ by over 4:1 in favour of rescinding proposition 209, with a vote in the State Senate expected to take place today, the 25th June. If it receives the required measure of support, this will then be put to California voters in November where a simple majority of yes/no will decide the fate of racial equality in the nation’s most populous state. A simple glance at the Assembly’s overwhelming support of the motion, coupled with the politically homogenous progressive landscape, suggests proposition 209 is facing the executioner’s axe.
Support for eradicating proposition 209 rests on the ground that it is a barrier to practicing ‘affirmative action’, the nice-sounding Orwellian-crafted phrase meaning – in as clear English as possible – racial discrimination. Rather than solely on the content of their character, as was Martin Luther King’s dream, applicants may now face judgement on the colour of their skin. This is not righting the wrongs of history; it is resurrecting them.
Proponents of ‘affirmative action’ claim that their intentions are to redress previous historical injustices, as well as to fight the perceived current systemically racist environment, so that ethnic minorities can have a fair start in life, on the same level as their privileged peers. Paradoxically, racism is used to fight racism.
For the ethnic minorities which affirmative action seeks to benefit, the positive discrimination impact is a sweet-tasting poison, because when the principle of meritocracy is thrown onto the bonfire, an individuals’ achievements start to face serious doubts. ‘Did they really deserve that promotion?’ ‘Are they only at this university because of the colour of their skin?’ These are the internal thoughts and private conversations that start to emerge, rapidly breeding resentment and distrust.
Also, being a “beneficiary” of affirmative action has shown to drastically increase the chance of dropping out of college as these students do not have the necessary qualifications or experience, therefore they discover that their work-load is too challenging so exit their course early with an eye-watering level of debt and absolutely nothing to soften the blow.
The left believes that all discrepancies in society between the races/the sexes/ad infinitum are a result of discrimination, rather than other causes such as fatherless homes, access to employment, life decisions, and countless others. Instead, the left has trapped themselves into viewing the wider public not as a group of individuals, but as a collective, belonging to groups of either heroic marginalized peoples or wicked privileged ones deserving of punishment.
Remarkably, socio-economic status, which is a key determinant of opportunities and success in life, appears to have escaped from the privilege grading scale so the poor white young-adult with poor school grades will be viewed as less deserving of assistance and more deserving of contempt due to their inherent ‘privilege’, than the wealthy black young-adult who was educated at an expensive private school and aced all of their tests.
It goes without saying that the actions taken by the CSL does nothing to solve the underlying root causes of inequality within society, only serving to re-racialize it, burning decades of progress in its wake.
