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From www.blackengineer.com Commentary Connerly and his supporters have shown no willingness to address the real issues of continuing racism or identify alternatives that could be provided to ensure equal opportunity for all. Instead, we see Connerly continuing to misrepresent and take out of context the comments of deceased civil rights leaders to support his positions. He has used this tactic of deception and falsehoods to gather support.
As an example, Connerly regularly quotes Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, and specifically the comment "Judge me not by the color of my skin but by the content of my character." and suggests King was calling for the elimination of affirmative action and the collection of racial data.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Let's look at the facts. When King made his famous speech in 1963, affirmative action did not even exist and there were no requirements that government agencies collect race data. Affirmative action did not come into existence until 1965 when President Johnson issued executive order 11246 and the collection of minority statistics came into existence with the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. King clearly was not concerned about a "colorblind society"; he was trying to end racism, segregation and discrimination.
These mischaracterizations represent a continuing pattern Connerly has used to mislead voters throughout the country. He misrepresented his intent during the 209 debate in California in 1996, the I-200 initiative in Washington in 1998, and the Prop 54 debate in California in 2003, and he continues to do the same thing today wherever he speaks.
Let's look at what King really said and comments that have never been mentioned by Connerly and his supporters:
"The Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and chains of discrimination...this is no time to engage in the luxury of colling off or to take the tranquillizing drug of gradualism."
Hardly a recognition of a colorblind society. If you want to quote King, let's look at some other things he has said. In a speech at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, King stated:
"Many Negroes feel that integration can only come through legislation and court action...many white people feel that integration can only come through education...this question betrayed an assumption that there was only one approach to the solution of the race problem. On the contrary, I feel both approaches are necessary."
In his letter from the Birmingham jail, he stated:
"My friends, I must say to you that we have not made a single gain in civil rights without determined legal and nonviolent pressure. Lamentably, it is a historical fact that privileged groups seldom give up their privileges voluntarily...we know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."
During his Poor People's campaign, King stated:
"We have learned from hard and bitter experience in our movement that our government did not move to correct a problem involving race until it was confronted directly and dramatically. It required a Selma before the fundamental right to vote was written into the federal statutes. It took a Birmingham before the government moved to open doors of public accommodations to all human beings. What we now need is a new kind of Selma or Birmingham to dramatize the economic plight of the Negro and compel the government to act."
These comments hardly reflect a call for volunteerism or an end to affirmative action. We must speak out against Connerly and his supporters and the fraud he continues to perpetuate in his continuing attacks against affirmative action.
Dave Barclay is chair of the National Black Business Roundtable and retired vice president, workforce diversity, for Hughes Electronics Company. He can be reached at DBarclay@ccgmag.com © Copyright by Career Communications Group, Inc. 729 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21202 410.244.7101 |