[b]eight6[/b]: "I judge people based on their merits. I don't take into account nor consider historic factors because that sways my judgment of the person I'm dealing with. I don't care if you're black, white, asian or from Mars...I have expectations of you as a person, just as you no doubt will have expectations of me. Meet my expectations and we'll get along fine; don't meet them and we'll have words."
Again, good for you. But we're not talking about your personal system-- how you [i]personally[/i] treat people. As an individual you are not obligated to correct the sins of the past (or present) or give anyone special treatment. You are required only to follow the law and to treat others as equals. We're talking about here is whether or not we support a specific set of public policies.
Your position is stated from the viewpoint of an individual, is that the past is over and thanks to your handy system, things are hunky-dory in eight6 world. This hews pretty closely to Thomas Sowell's position.
My position is that minorities historically have suffered from racism and discrimination, and this legacy is present in various forms today. Unlike many other groups, Blacks came to this country in bondage and oppression and were released but disenfranched and in apartheid throughout parts of the US as late as the 1970's. This was not confined to individual racism, but was encoded in public policy at all levels. This is what affirmative action and related programs seek to redress. It's an attempt to use public policy to reverse the disadvantages created by a long history of shameful public policy.
Some people, such as Dr. Sowell disagree that public policy should attempt to correct sins of the past, and that the remedy is worse than the sickness. Similar arguments have been made about feeding the hungry or providing shelter for the homeless. I concede to a certain extent that public policy is imperfect and can create unintended consequences (e.g., people taking advantage of policies who don't need it) or distortions (e.g., people changing their behavior and becoming dependent on the policies). Then again, if you don't like public policy, there's always the voting booth.
