Affirmative Action

ORLANDO, Florida -- "How can you have any objection to this statement?" Ward Connerly, famous affirmative action foe, asked me this in a recent debate.Then he read to me the language of the anti-affirmative action proposition known as Initiative 200 that Washington state voters will decide today.It says essentially that the state "shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin," in education, employment or contracting.

WASHINGTON -- As the battle over affirmative action heats up, I am bracing myself for the time when my side -- the side that supports it -- loses.The winners will be my rivals like Ward Connerly, the black businessman who led the anti-affirmative-action proposition thatCalifornia voters passed in November. Mr. Connerly recently formed an organization to spread the movement to other states.Martin Luther King III organized a group to counter Mr. Connerly's. But though his organization may have some successes, ultimately the pro-affirmative action side will lose.

WASHINGTON -- When circumstances pressed President Clinton to declare himself on one side or the other on affirmative action, he found a classically Clintonian footing on the middle ground.''Mend it, don't end it,'' he declared.That sounded great, the perfect bumper-sticker slogan, even though nobody knew what he meant. Now we are beginning to find out what he meant. His recent efforts to ''mend it'' are essentially ending it.First came the Clinton administration's August 14 announcement that it is considering a proposal to make it easier for white-owned businesses to qualify for government contracts that originally were set aside for businesses owned by racial and ethnic minorities.

WASHINGTON -- In a departure from their long-held, unqualified support of affirmative action, three prominent liberal Democrats -- two of them leading black legislators -- yesterday endorsed a review of government policies and programs that give preferences to women and members of minorities.But while supporting the review, the three Democrats -- Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown Jr., and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York -- insisted that some special efforts were appropriate to help women and members of minorities overcome the effects of past and current discrimination.

CALIFORNIA's power to cloud men's minds must never be forgot. Under its spell we submitted for eight years to the governance of Ronald Reagan, who had trouble distinguishing history from old movie plots.Under its spell we submitted for six years to the governance of Richard Nixon, who only did what they all do, I'm told, but did it so ineptly that he broke the California spell and had to resign.Now another Californian is starting to cloud the American mind: Gov. Pete Wilson. Wants to be President.

If Arthur Fletcher runs for president next year, it won't be a conventional campaign.His strongest vitriol is leveled against fellow Republicans, he's contemplating a campaign theme that could be political suicide, and he hasn't even decided whether to run on the GOP ticket or as an independent.But then, a quixotic campaign for president is completely in character for a man who is considered the "father of affirmative action."Mr. Fletcher, 70, in Seattle recently to speak to a business conference, offered unvarnished glimpses into his political assessments:* On Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, California Gov. Pete Wilson and conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan, all Republicans who are running, or are expected to run, for president next year:"I call them the David Duke wing of the Republican Party.

FROM Nicholas Lemann, writing in the New York Times Magazine, June 11:As we begin the process of thinking about the bulk of affirmative action programs, it's important to keep in mind three core principles.First, because the country is so segregated, the natural default position for white people is to have no contact at all with blacks. It's healthy to have some way of pushing people, as they make hiring and contracting and admissions decisions, to go far enough beyond the bounds of their ordinary realm of contacts to find black candidates.

Dawn Hyde has made a second career out of helping companies with federal contracts and those that are federally insured meet affirmative-action hiring rules.A former personnel officer at Mercantile Safe Deposit and Trust Co., she quit 10 years ago to launch Columbia-based Berkshire Associates Inc., an affirmative-action consulting firm.A decade later, the company boasts about 60 clients looking for advice on meeting federal regulations on the hiring and promotion of women, minorities and the disabled.

I'M AN African-American who is the beneficiary of affirmative action. I find the recent federal court decision ordering the University of Michigan Law School to dismantle its affirmative-action program disturbing. I was able to take advantage of educational opportunities, first by attending Harvard College and Harvard Business School and now the University of Pennsylvania Law School. I know I was qualified for admission at all three institutions, where I and other minority students have done well.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening will propose raising the percentage of state business reserved for minority-owned companies from the current 14 percent after receiving a report showing persistent, disparate treatment of such concerns in lending and procurement. Major F. Riddick Jr., the governor's chief of staff, said yesterday that the administration will call for a minority "set-aside" between 17 percent and 27 percent. He said the governor also would seek "carve-outs" guaranteeing certain percentages of business for African-American companies, which the study identified as those most likely to face discrimination.

WASHINGTON - - Sonia Sotomayor completed an unlikely and historic journey Thursday, one that began with her birth in a Bronx, N.Y., housing project 55 years ago and culminated in her confirmation as the Supreme Court's 111th justice. When she is sworn into office Saturday, Sotomayor will take her place as the high court's first Latino and just its third woman. She was approved by a 68-31 Senate vote after three days of debate. Nine Republicans crossed party lines to support her. But what she brings to the high court goes far beyond her ethnicity or gender.

The following is a selection of reader commentary from Baltimore Sun talkboards and blogs on President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Don't get so agitated because the Republicans agitate about Sotomayor. That's their job. They are the opposition party. Would you like it better if they just curled up and died? You didn't mention that Sonia Sotomayor is also a diabetic from a young age. Hispanic, woman and diabetic! Rah, rah, rah! Is her empathy a cover for her ideology?

Like it or not, we're all socialists now. You can thank those free-market conservatives and their deregulatory idol, George W. Bush, for that. Conservatives love to wield the word socialism like some all-purpose, liberal-slaying sword. Redistribution to the poor, the right to unionize and affirmative action are decried as anti-market, unfair advantages for filthy socialists who can't compete and fail to appreciate the almighty, equalizing power of self-determination and an unfettered market.

WASHINGTON -- Trying to quell a "firestorm" that threatens his presidential chances, Barack Obama delivered a sweeping address yesterday that bluntly challenged Americans to move beyond "the racial stalemate that we've been stuck in for years." He repeated his criticism of racially charged remarks by his former pastor that, he acknowledged, have raised "nagging questions" about his candidacy. But he also used the controversy as a springboard for wide-ranging remarks that touched on the nation's legacy of racial division and long-simmering animosities that, he said, have hindered social progress.

DENVER -- Intent on dismantling affirmative action, activists in five states have launched a coordinated drive to cut off tax dollars for programs that offer preference based on race or gender. They aim to put affirmative action bans on the November ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The effort is being organized by California consultant Ward Connerly, who has successfully promoted similar measures in California, Michigan and Washington. Supporters of affirmative action say the initiatives will be difficult to block, given that Connerly has a proven ability to raise funds and persuade voters, even in more liberal states.

BOSTON -- Let me wish the Supreme Court justices a fond farewell as they set out on their summer vacation. We can all rest assured now that they won't do any more damage until the first week in October. And a special shout-out to Justice Clarence Thomas, who may embark on his annual road trip in his 40-foot motor home knowing that he has accomplished one life goal. The justice is now talked about even less in terms of race - less as the profligate successor to Justice Thurgood Marshall than as a certified member of the court's right wing.

WASHINGTON -- In the 1960s, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart declared that he could not define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it. Today, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas does not define affirmative action in the same way that a lot of other people do, but he knows when he has not benefited from it. He reveals that view and more in a rare and surprisingly expansive interview with BusinessWeek senior writer Diane Brady, posted on the...

Court also upholds equality for whites As the article "Court must promote minorities, Breyer says" (Dec. 4) notes, "the [Supreme] court upheld race-conscious admissions in higher education in a 5-4 opinion by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor." This is true as far as it goes, but misleading. On June 23, 2003, the court decided the cases of Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger. In the Grutter case, the court upheld the affirmative action policy of the law school at the University of Michigan.

WASHINGTON -- Affirmative action is on trial at the U.S. Supreme Court. Judging by the chilly reception that five of the nine justices gave it during oral arguments this week, the only question left is how far the court will go in overruling racial preferences as a constitutional way to remedy the historical damage done by racial preferences. I do not use the P-word lightly. I have publicly debated former University of California regent Ward Connerly and others who use the word "preferences" to denounce any effort by government to remedy the historical problems of race by taking race into account.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court justices, hearing arguments on school integration, signaled yesterday they are likely to bar the use of race when assigning students to the public schools. Such a ruling could deal a blow to hundreds of school systems across the nation that use racial guidelines to maintain a semblance of classroom integration in cities whose neighborhoods are divided along racial lines. It would be a major victory for those who have called for "color-blind" decision-making by public officials.