In April, I was on a program called The Church of Lazlo 96.5 The Buzz with the hosts Lazlo and Slimfast. The hosts and I had a lively discussion on the issue of affirmative action and race relations. They clearly supported affirmative action. I do not. Both of the hosts seemed especially surprised when I said that affirmative action creates negative stereotypes about minorities. They waited till I was off the air, and bluntly said that they thought I was “wrong.”
If they had made the same statement when I was on the radio, I would have vigorously contested it and presented an alternative point of view. Unfortunately, they waited until I was off the air before making this contention. Perhaps Lazlo and Slimfast ran out of time, or perhaps they were too cowardly to confront me about this disagreement. I’ll let you decide.
Now, lets see if I was right or they were right. Instead of asking my opinion or theirs, lets ask the opinions of minorities.
A survey of 4,800 “students of color” in the 2011-2 academic year by the Racial Microaggressions Project at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that over half of the minority students reported that “affirmative action was frequently mentioned by nonminority students as the reason racial minorities were able to attend the university.” (read the article for more details). That’s right, almost half of minority students reported being stereotyped as less competent and worthy because of the allegation that “affirmative action” played a role in their admission (regardless of whether it actually did or not).
This is compelling evidence that minorities experience discrimination and negative stereotypes because of affirmative action. Over half of minority students self-report experiencing that type of discrimination when asked.
So the case is pretty much closed. Affirmative action creates negative stereotypes about minorities and over half of minority students report experiencing that discrimination when asked. Of course, this does not mean that affirmative action is a bad policy or it should be abolished. Perhaps the benefits of affirmative action such as diversity and opportunity outweigh the negative stereotypes it creates. I would disagree with this perspective and welcome a lively debate on the subject.
So Slimfast and Lazlo, I am throwing down the gauntlet. Now that survey data shows that I was right (and you were wrong) about the negative stereotypes that affirmative action creates, do you have the gonads to challenge me on the air? Or once again will you diss me and my ideas when I am off the air because you are too cowardly to face me in person?
