The Associated Press is reporting that Affirmative Action slayer Ward Connerly survived a prickly, mixed reception at Truman State University Thursday.
He was mocked. He was cheered. And there were a whole lot of chips flying off shoulders.
At one point Connerly had to ask a woman to “please just shut up.â€
During his two hour speech he was confronted by a mostly hostile crowed that jeered and interrupted him, even laughing at some of his statements.
”What we’re doing in our nation now … is preparing for the day when race-based affirmative action won’t be around,” he said. ”Clearly, it’s living on borrowed time.”
Connerly was speaking to an audience of several hundred students, professors and community members about Affirmative Action no longer being necessary.
He is in Missouri pushing a ballot initiative that would ban race-based preferences in public hiring and college admissions.
Connerly successfully pushed ballot initiatives banning Affirmative action in California, Washington state and Michigan. He’s now pushing the measure in four other states besides Missouri.
Critics have argued that large inequities still exist between whites and blacks and discrimination remains a pertinent issue.
Connerly acknowledged that eliminating or reducing minority scholarships ”will probably have a negative effect. But that’s a public policy decision that has to be made.”
He got his position through affirmative action programs. Though the program could be better used today with class being an issue as this would benefit lower income blacks. A great socioeconomic gap exists between inner city blacks and those who reside in the middle class suburbs and have access to better schools.
Posted by Douglas Duckworth | 31. Mar, 2008, 10:28 AMFREE EVENT
Affirmative Action: What’s at Stake for Missouri and America
National ACLU Racial Justice Director, Dennis Parker
The event takes place on Wednesday April 2 at 6:30pm at the offices of the ACLU of Eastern Missouri 454 Whittier Street (just south of Olive)
Currently there is a movement to amend the Missouri State Constitution to ban affirmative action through a proposed initiative aiming for the November 2008 election ballot. This initiative comes cloaked in the language of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, but in reality, it is an attack on affirmative action policies that have benefited women and minorities who would otherwise be locked out of higher education, business contracts, and other public resources. Anti-affirmative action ballot initiatives are creations of the so-called national “American Civil Rights Initiative,” and they have been successful so far in California, Michigan, and Washington State. Now, the ACRI has targeted Missouri, along with Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Can they be stopped? Does affirmative action still comprise an effective and critical a set of social policies? This session explores both questions and more.
RSVPs are encouraged as seating is limited.
314-652-3114 ext 23
Posted by Scott Emanuel | 31. Mar, 2008, 1:16 PMFYI Scott, in the future, if you have events you want PubDef to write about you can just email us with the details.
Posted by Danielle Belton | 31. Mar, 2008, 1:29 PM