Jstol3,

 

The problems that one runs into is that communities are composed of many different racial and ethnic groups, so who do you favor. You qualify your statement by saying as long as they are “qualified.” Who gets to make that determination? For example, a community may have 40% black population, but in a highly specialized field there may be few if any blacks truly qualified. Those running roughshod over hiring practices are not going to be concerned about qualifications, they want numbers. This happened in many job categories in times past. Employers had to lower there standards in order to accommodate minorities. Often times job qualification can be arbitrary, if an employer has to justify his hiring practices to some judge or review panel he is more likely to go with the minority (qualified or not) to avoid the hassle. This no different than what has happened with affirmative action. It can also create a hostile work place environment. I’m all for equal opportunity employment, but when judges, government or some other agency gets involved, problems are created. With today’s job market there are going to be six or more people applying for every job. Employers don’t need the added burden of having to look over their shoulder to determine if they are mathematically correct and racially balanced in whom they hire.

I’m reminded of a story that came out of the early 70’s where a representative from an equal rights group went to an employer advising that one of his black employees had filed a complaint saying he didn’t believe that the business had enough black employees. The representative told they employer that his work force had to be at least 30% minorities, otherwise they would file a discrimination suit. Being very familiar with the racial make up of his business, the employer didn’t argue with the man and told him that by the end of the week he’d in compliance. That Friday he called all his employees together and informed them of the meeting he’d had with the civil rights man and then preceded to fire five black employees bring his business into compliance with the 30% requirement. I’ve heard this story several times over the years in various forms, whether or not its true, I don’t know. But it serves as a good illustration of how such quotas can get out of hand and create more problems than they resolve.

 

This story brings to mind a recent conversation I had with a liberal friend. Let me say that I do share some of my friend’s feelings when it comes to issues such as equal rights, due process, equal protection, and the rule of law. Where we often differ is not on ideas or ideals, but with how they are applied. We were talking about hate crime legislation, which he is in favor of. I personal feeling is that any legislation that singles out a particular group of people for special treatment under the law subvert the goal and principles of an equal and fair judicial system. The scales of justice is suppose to be balanced and Lady Justice blind. Anytime you enact any law, regulation, or police that is designed to benefit one class of people over another, you throw the scales off balance and your attempts at social justice are often as flawed, and as arbitrary as the social defect you are trying to correct. Such special interest laws place an un due burden on judges, juries, prosecutors and law enforcement further complicating and bogging down an already burdened system. They add another level of selective punishment to wrongful acts that should be punished fairly and equally, and serve only to further segregate our society. An act of violence committed against a person should be prosecuted and punished (if convicted) to the full extent of the law regardless of the race, sex, ethnicity, background or age of the defendant or victim. We already have too many laws that give prosecutors and defendants wiggle room. Compounding that problem by turning the scales of justice into a teeter tater isn’t going to resolve the problem, but only serves to exasperate it.

In the case you describe, where it the balance (percentage) of women, or Hispanics or any other group that compose part of the community represented? How are gays and transgenders going to fit into this mix? With the ever-increasing diversity of out communities blacks are no longer holding the distinction of minority. When it comes to skin color you have black, white, brown, yellow, red and few in between. For an accurate depiction of American you’ll need all these colors and more.