I have an opinion piece in today's Newsday on race and discrimination in light of Ricci v. DeStefano. The link is here.
I discuss the reality that racial preferences remain necessary, but that they also increase antagonism on the part of whites that weakens cross-racial coalitions. Both of these things are true, I argue, and we must consider both of these realities as we seek consensus on how to deal with discrimination.
My suggestion is that we begin to target racial preferences more carefully while also, as a society, publicly committing to a goal of ending racial preferences at a point in the future when they are no longer necessary.
More after the jump.
I close as follows:
That's the kind of compromise that will bring us closer to defeating racism completely.
I encourage you to read the whole piece and, if you like, to recommend this diary. One of the primary goals I had in writing it is to engage other liberals in a discussion of how we can weigh the competing goals of broad coalition building across racial lines with combating the effects of discrimination. Both are worthy goals and I would hope that through a compromise we could maximize our efforts on both fronts, in particular since in the long run I believe that coalition building will help the economically vulnerable of all races (I go into this more in the piece). I look forward to a dialogue here.
Thanks.