Support of affirmative action continues to decline

The original purpose for affirmative action was sound and logical. We lived in a segregated society run by white people who were only going to hire people of color for the lowest paid menial jobs that a vast majority of whites didn't want. If laws were not put in place to correct this, nothing would change and blacks would remain on the bottom forever.

So affirmative action laws were passed guaranteeing that people of different races, gender, and ethnicities could start moving up the ladder of opportunity by being hired for positions they could not have competed for before. The downside of this, of course, were the cries of reverse discrimination voiced by many whites who had been passed over for a job or a promotion even though their qualifications were better than the minority person who received it.

Defenders of affirmative action admitted this was a fault of the system but argued that if it didn't happen, the status quo would be permanently entrenched and that once equality was gained, affirmative action wouldn't be needed anymore.

It appears, at least in the mind of the public, that point has been reached. Today, 45 percent support the law while an equal percentage oppose it, the lowest approval rate ever and down significantly from an approval rate of 61 percent in 1991.

As always, there is a wide split along racial and ideological lines. 56 percent of whites oppose it while 80 percent of blacks and 60 percent of Hispanics support it. Sixty-seven percent of the Democrats contend it is still needed while only 22 percent of Republicans, 17 percent of the Tea Party and 31 percent of Independents do.

In fact, affirmative action is banned in eight states: Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.

Why is there such a divide? Whites and Republicans think that jobs and promotions should be given only through merit; test scores, interviews, skill sets, etc. Democrats and people of color believe the system in America has always been skewed toward whites and people of money or influence and that the law should stay on the books to make the playing field more level. Both sides have valid points to make.

But the elephant in the room is what we know about people who don't look or think like us, especially in the heartland where blacks and Democrats are few and far between. Our perceptions, for the most part, are based on what we hear and read about these groups from the media.

While there are more blacks succeeding economically in this country today than ever before, we don't know too much about them because we don't hear about them. I've talked to several Republican friends this past week who freely admit to knowing and liking most of the blacks they interact with. But the news we hear most often is crime news. We hear about the large percentage of blacks in the prison system, far higher than their representative percentage in the general population. We hear of street gangs in every major city in the country who specialize in selling illegal drugs and killing each other in record numbers. Just the other day there were nine shootings in a three hour period in Chicago. They live a lifestyle not familiar to us; one that is difficult to even comprehend.

We've had problems with black athletes before in McCook who are recruited to come here and play from cities like Detroit, New Orleans and Washington, D.C. where their growing-up experiences were nothing like ours. The vernacular term applied to these young men, and to a much lesser extent, young women, is that they are "players" which indicates a degree of street smarts that a vast majority of people living in this area have no awareness of. So they come in and take advantage of our na*veté.

This is not a blanket indictment of all athletes recruited because some of them have excelled just like their white counterparts. Just this past semester, I had two black female athletes in class who were delightful young women and I have several former students who are also black, both male and female, as my friends on Facebook.

Our biggest problem is that we only seek out information that supports our point of view or, worse, our biases and prejudices. We need to deal with people based on their individual characteristics and not their group membership. I like and dislike people who belong to all groups and I suspect you do too.

The Civil War ended 150 years ago, comprehensive civil rights laws were passed 50 years ago and yet we still have this problem. I don't know what the answer is.

But I do know we need to find one.