Submitted by Jay, May 17, 2007 16:40

Ms. Phillips clearly hasn't learned much at whatever private school she attends. To start with, there need be no conflict betwen affirmative action for the poor -- who could be against that? -- and AA for ethnic minorities. This should never be an either-or situration and no one who thinks about it very hard would imagine that it should be. Yet opponents of AA set up this false dichotmoy all the time, pitting one set of excluded people against another. The fact is both the poor and people of color are shut out of much that this society offers. Class indeed matters But so does race. Whether Ms. Phillips cares to admit it or not, racism is still a factor in the U.S. The Mexican or Puerto Rican or African American child will likley still have a tougher time of it in the world -- before, during and after the school years . Moreover, affirmative action also serves a prupose as useful to the Republic as any. It helps make stakeholders out of the excluded. That yields a social stability that is invaluable. A society where one sees whole classes of people excluded from positions of power or influence on the basis of color inevitably plants the seeds of its own destruction. History is full of the wars and social dissolution that occur when powerless minorities are not stakeholders in their societies.

And as for those "wealthy" blacks? First of all there are not that many "wealthy" blacks. But I can guarantee you that even middle-class status does not protect any ethnic minority in the U.S from discrimination in employment , housing , business or schooling--something anyone who has bothered to talk with midlle-class minorities for any length of time would know. I would advise Ms. Phillips to save her condescending pity for her Mexican friend's tough life and instead work to insure a level playing field for everyone in the U.S. Afirmative action is but a tool in that struggle. Individuals helping individuals is good. It is just not enough. It never has been.

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