Opinion

Steve Russell: Indians affected by affirmative action policy

Friday, May 4, 2012

"All racial discourse has been nonsensical since we’ve understood H. sapiens as one species with common ancestors. “White” is about color, and there are more differences among whites than there are between whites and other “races.” “Indian,” all Indians know, simply refers to persons indigenous to the Americas, and the only time we have more similarities than differences is when we are attacked for being Indian.

However, the demand that our children be exposed to a first rate education is not nonsensical, and that demand has the mud of racial discourse all over it. For Indians, however, there may be a way to press that demand outside of racial fantasies, at least on the college level.

Those who wish to make the phrase “affirmative action” distasteful need to understand its origins. When the newly elected President John F. Kennedy inquired about racial discrimination in federal employment, he met the refrain that there were “no qualified Negroes.” The result was Executive Order 10925, requiring the government to take “affirmative action” to find qualified applicants."

Get the Story:
Steve Russell: Indians and Affirmative Action (Indian Country Today 5/4)