Know your enemy

As California and the nation move rapidly into the season of political campaigns, it is imperative that Progressives defending affirmative action programs act now to sharpen and clarify our arguments. Political reactionaries who have already begun playing to the economic insecurities of middle-class and working-class voters, and opportunistic political candidates are poised to exploit these fears.

In its most base form, the attack on affirmative action amounts to a demagogic warning to European American men. Hard working, self-responsible and caring individuals are being told that their economic worries stem from "special privileges" handed out to unqualified women and ethnic minorities. The "merits of the individual," European American men are being told, have been superseded by undeserved "group preferences."

History teaches us that we should beware; scapegoating has always been a powerful political tool.

The quickest and most effective way to dismantle these dangerous attempts to further polarize us racially is to insist on the larger sociological picture:

Women are now about 40 percent of the work force nationwide, but they still hold only about 5 percent of the upper management positions.

Meanwhile, European American men are about 43 percent of the working population and hold about 95 percent of top management positions; African American men's incomes still only amount to about 75 percent of what their European American male neighbor's make, and Latina's earnings are a paltry 54 percent by comparison. American Indians like myself, continue to endure unemployment rates that hover around 50 percent.

Clearly "group preferences" and "special privileges" have played and continue to play a role in the allocation of resources and power, but ethnic minorities and women are not the groups that have been given these advantages.

More often than not, the attack on affirmative action comes as part of a right-wing discourse that also seeks to dehumanize the faces of crime and related social problems.

Phil Gramm, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan and other national political figures now regularly invite "good, hard-working Americans" to compare themselves to the black and brown faces of "inner-city crime, delinquency and illegitimacy."

Once again, basic sociological understandings can act as a potent response to such dangerous and racist political opportunism. One need not discount the importance of self-responsibility in order to recognize that poverty and lack of opportunity are fundamentally linked to destructive behavior.

Current statistics show that American Indians are six-tenths of 1 percent of the overall population, but a full 6 percent of the incarcerated population -- an over-representation of 10,000 percent. Our suicide rates are double that of the general population, and alcoholism rates are eight times higher than those of the nation's population.

African Americans are about 47 percent of the incarcerated population but are only about 12 percent of the national population -- an over-representation of nearly 400 percent.

The fight over affirmative action can be won. Indeed this struggle is an educational opportunity on a mass scale. We have before us a chance to publicly engage those that would move us backwards, away from the progress that has already been made in overcoming ugly racial conflicts and sexism. Insisting on a recognition of sociological reality is a strategically smart place to begin.

[ Golden Gater Online November 21, 1995 ]

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