Discussions on a 'Dream': Panel reviews affirmative action

A November election could change the face of affirmative action in Missouri.

The new legislation, its language and implications were proposed in a Jan. 23 panel discussion held by The African American Student Union (TAASU).

The discussion, "From Dream to Nightmare: The Co-optation of Civil Rights Language by the Right," featured David Achtenberg, professor of law; Dr. Stephen Dilks, associate professor in English language and literature; and Carol Grimaldi, executive director of the Brush Creek Community Partners.

The proposed legislation, dubbed the Missouri Civil Rights Initiative (MoCRI), "would effectively prohibit state and local governments from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group based on race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education and public contracting," according to the Web site supporting the initiative, www.missouricri.org.

Achtenberg discussed the beginnings of affirmative action, going back to the 14th Amendment. He also discussed how MoCRI borrowed language from other anti-discrimination legislation.

"The language that they tend to co-opt is language of non-discrimination and language of lack of preferences," Achtenberg said. "But I would suggest that what [MoCRI] does, in fact, is discriminate against a particular form of consideration. It discriminates against recognizing a particular form of disadvantage."

Achtenberg brought the MoCRI Web site up on the overhead projector and pointed to a photo of a Caucasian boy offering an ice cream cone to an African-American girl.

"…[L]ook and think about this image," Achtenberg said. "Ask yourself whether an initiative that says one can never use considerations of race as a way of reaching a better and more just society … whether that is a world we are more likely to reach by forbidding ever considering race, or whether it's one affirmative action helps us approach every day by bringing us together."

Dilks, who is from the east coast of England, offered his perspective on civil rights struggles through his experiences with such issues in Northern Ireland. Also, as a professor of literature and English, he discussed the ways language is used in politics.

"[Some say] affirmative action is a form of terror," Dilks said. "We know what that is doing after 9/11. It is making anybody who is defending affirmative action analogous to the people who attacked the United States…"

Grimaldi shared her experiences as a young woman when affirmative action was implemented to include woman. She credited the ensuing shift in college gender demographics to her ability to attend college.

"I can't help but believe that the timing of affirmative action on the public policy horizon and my admission to school with a financial aid package made college a reality," Grimaldi said. "As a beneficiary of affirmative action, I stand with its proponents and the view that it is one of the most effective ways to address the longstanding problems of racism and sexism in our country…"

Grimaldi brought up the continuing disparity between the pay of men and women of all races. The real disparity, she said, could be found by looking at who held the power; in this case, white men.

"Without affirmative action and with the continuation of just men in power, establishing rules and determining the value of women's work, because out of sight, out of mind, we will be lucky if we are just even tinkering around the edges," Grimaldi said.

During the question-and-answer session that followed the panel's presentation, UMKC senior Edward Pace, liberal arts, offered his own observation as to who holds the power, referencing the same photograph Achtenberg discussed earlier that evening.

"Ms. Grimaldi you asked earlier, 'Where's the power? Where are the decisions being made?'" Pace said. "I think we can look at that image … of the [MoCRI] Web site and see where the power is. … We see who's holding the power. Who's holding that ice cream cone?"

According to its Web site, before the initiative can be placed on the November ballot, organizers of the MoCRI must collect the required number of signatures before May 4, 2008.

mhenderson@unews.com