WHENEVER the topic of domestic violence is discussed, the inevitable angle pops up: Why doesn't the victim simply leave her abuser? The answer usually involves a melange of factors -- money worries, the kids, fear, guilt, love, whatever. There is still a need
for affirmative actionBut the person posing such a query is committing a major faux pas. He or she is passing judgment by imposing his or her own personal standards on the expected behavior of others.
Just because an individual has the inner strength and monetary means to leave a bully doesn't mean that all women have the wherewithal to do the same. In other words, it's hard for most people who aren't battered to understand that domestic abuse is a social, economic and political problem.
This same line of thinking can be applied to affirmative action, especially these days when it's in vogue to bash the ideal that women and minorities should get special treatment in a white male's world.
Who is worse: A rare minority elitist who says affirmative action programs are ineffective and generally hurtful to society, or a Caucasian politician who decides there's no longer a need to help non-whites or women, because they have made impressive strides in all facets of the community?
Tough call. Both are pretty insulting.
I have always been suspicious of those who discount the desire to level the playing field when it comes to racial and gender diversity in the mainstream. There's nothing wrong in steering civilization toward equality.
Need a metaphor? Let's say there's a plot of land that would be fantastic to develop except there are mounds of dirt and overgrown grass on it. You can wait until the elements manage to clear it via natural means -- if ever. Or you could simply dispatch a bulldozer to plow up the vegetation and smooth out the dirt.
The latter accomplishes the task faster and more efficiently. Voila, it's done.
Such is the case with affirmative action. It's a ruse to say that minorities and women don't merit a special nod to get into law and medical schools, or into the high management ranks of large corporations and organizations, because if they're good, they will get their due. Only in their egalitarian dreams!
As long as white males continue to be in charge of the selection process, are doing the hiring and firing, and in general are running this nation, it is extremely difficult to thwart the penchant to hire in one's own image.
BUT the most compelling reminder of the need to fight inequity happened just last week, when TV news cameras caught up with President Clinton at Central High in Little Rock, Ark. He was there to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the integration of the school by nine black students who were escorted in by federal troops.
The networks showed grainy footage of that historic day in 1957, when the African-American students were taunted and spit at by the overwhelmingly white crowd. The blacks, now adults, are still traumatized by the hatred that they experienced just four decades ago.
Why not ask them if they think affirmative action is passe because of the belief that minorities have finally "made it" in this country? Bet you'd get a very different answer than if you asked their white former classmates, who welcomed the Central High Nine to their brand-new school with an unforgettable lesson in ethnic abuse.
To find out if discrimination still exists, ask those who can be discriminated against.