>>Is it admitting defeat; throwing up hands in disgust and
>>giving up on fixing the dilema at it's root?
>
>No, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICY
>WAS FORGED OUT OF THE CAULDRON
>of black insurgency. It was the
>mobilization of black protest,
>beginning with the civil rights
>movement and the ensuing upsurge
>of black militancy, that engendered
>the political pressure for the policy
>initiatives that came to be known as
>"affirmative action."
>
>Contrary to the lies, AA is not and has
>never been a hand-out from the U.S. gov.
>or liberal whites. Rather, it is a by-
>product of the Black struggle for equality.
>
>>Is is really
>>helping minorities or is it just another form of classism
>>keeping elite (whether finanicially or intellectually)
>>minorities and their issues detached from the rest of their
>>prospective groups?
>
>Absolutely, positively not!
>
>A plethora of social research
>indicates that the occupational
>spheres where blacks have made
>the most progress -- in government
>service, in major blue-collar
>occupations, in corporate management,
>and in the professions -- are all
>areas where vigorous affirmative
>action programs have been in place
>over the past two decades(Steinberg,
>1995).
>
>>Is it a useful tool? If so, is it more of a wedge to get a
>>foot in the door...or a wedge to create a social schism?
>
>In his book "Turning Back, The
>Retreat from Racial Justice in
>American Thought and Policy",
>Stephen Steinberg (1995) argues
>that, "affirmative action is the
>single policy of the post-civil
>rights era that sought equality,
>not just as a right and a theory,
>but as a fact and a result" (p.165).
>
>Nonwhites were unable to rely on
>good-faith efforts by employers
>until those efforts were actually
>enforced by specific "goals and
>timetables" that gave preference
>to minority applicants "who met
>basic qualifications but might
>not have been hired or promoted
>without affirmative action mandates"
>(p.166).
>
>Blacks have made the greatest
>progress in firms and job sectors
>where affirmative action has been
>implemented: in government, in major
>blue-collar industries, and in cor-
>porate management and the professions
>(eBadgett and Hartmann in Economic
>Perspectives on Affirmative Action).

What sort of person, I wonder, totes around an podium style debate club rebuttal arguing the merits of Affirmative Action, replete with citations?

You're an odd bird, Ho.