Equality For All

The Politics of Racism

Granting special consideration to any ethnic group is racism. Biden announced before the primary election that, if nominated, he would choose a woman as his vice-presidential running mate. He later went on to say he preferred a woman of color. I don’t know if Kamala Harris is the best choice for the job or not. I do know, however, that 90% of the available candidates were eliminated due to gender and ethnicity. His selection process was both sexist and racist.

This causes me to question Biden’s other selections. Was Jaime Harrison chosen as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee on merit or because he is black? Was race and gender a criterion for choosing Keisha Bottoms as the party’s vice-chairman? One has to wonder.

I read a short essay the other day that said black Americans are underrepresented as army generals. The author used this statistic as proof of systemic racism. Before I can accept the author’s conclusion, I would need to see what per portion of black Americans who apply for officers training. A bachelor’s degree is required to apply, so I would also need to see the per cent of Black Americans that have four-year college degrees? If black Americans are underrepresented as college graduates, we need to work on that problem and the number of officer candidates and generals will follow. If we pass a rule that the percent of black generals in the Army be the same as the per cent of blacks in the United States, it cheapens the accomplishment of those who have competed successfully for promotion to the highest ranks in the army. Additionally, if we mandate a quota of black generals, should we not also mandate a number of Native Americans, Asians, and Hispanics, or should we get out of the way and allow those best qualified to be selected?

The same is true of other positions as well. Affirmative Action was rightly deemed unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court, but it is still prevalent by other names. The West Coast Conference recently adopted a rule requiring the final group of candidates for any administrative or coaching position include at least one minority. I cannot believe that Terry Porter or Damon Stoudamire would endorse such a proposal. They are fine coaches who were hired because they were the best candidates for the job. Race was not a criterion. This new rule, however, casts a shadow over the qualifications of future coaches. It is against the law to show favoritism toward white owned companies when awarding contracts. On the other hand, denying contracts to white owned companies is normal procedure under minority preference. This is racism and perpetuates segregation.

I am a firm believer in integration. The only difference between race is skin color, and sometimes even that is unclear. There should be no decision made in these United States wherein ethic background is a criterion. Special privileges equate to segregation, and segregation is wrong. It has become fashionable to believe, however, that we can eliminate bias through reparations of past wrongs. That can’t be done. We can’t erase the wrongs of past generations. Giving special privileges to those whose ancestors were victims of racial bias does not contribute to integration. Slavery is part of our history as is the racism that followed. It is an awful part of our history, but it is history and cannot be changed. Our job is to eliminate bias today and keep it out of our future. We can’t do that by encouraging segregation through special privileges.

Frank Watson is a retired Air Force Colonel and long-time resident of Eastern Washington. He has been a free-lance columnist for over 20 years.