Everyone’s a Winner!

I generally avoid discussing race in these pages. My discussions on illegal immigration focus on the outrage against the rule of law, and the disruption of cultural cohesion, rather than the incidental -- but admittedly salient -- feature of race. I’ve convinced myself that if there were hordes of troublesome Swedes and Danes swarming over our shores like so many running grunions, my position would be not one whit different. And, um, you know, uh, some of my best friends, huh, are, you know, um, uh, heh, Mexicanos, as we say.

Well. Today a fellow was trying to describe a guy to someone. “You know -- D.” No recognition. “He wears glasses.” Nothing. “Little guy, glasses.” Nope. So I piped up, “Little fast black guy.” “Oh.” Voila.

Then I said, “You know, it’s alright to say black. I’d expect to be described as the tall skinny white guy.” And another fella said, “I’m the fat Mexican.” And another said, “I’m the half-breed.” And it was funny.

Maybe because of the self-deprecation. Maybe because of the innate tensions, among reasonable people, that racial differences still evoke. It calls back to our tribal days, when society and family and race were all the same thing. Well, no matter. If it ever can, it will change with time. But I think there are such tensions even in mixed marriages. Lord, what a term. “Mixed marriage.” Isn’t the mixing of two genders enough of a mix? The mixing of two genomes? No, race still matters.

Of course what matters, in any such judgments, is not race, but culture. And even culture isn’t the point, so much as conduct. I like people to be quiet -- subdued and courteous. But I’m from the ’50s, and I’m clearly out of step with the presiding weltgeist. Such a burden I bear, to be so good in such a wicked world.

So what is today’s outrage? Of course: racial preferences in university admissions -- they’ve taken to calling it “diversity” -- crafty devils. Another, more accurate term, would be “racism”. There is nothing possible to say on this subject that isn’t obvious. When we hire a lawyer, we don't hire him because of color, but because of a presumed ability to achieve a certain goal. Obviously.

The conceit, the excuse, is that there is a salubrious effect on the student body, by being exposed to this diversity. As if there were only one race allowed in public. Ahem: whether we sit in a classroom or walk down the street, we are exposed to the same quality of diversity. Obvously. So why discriminate, to get diversity in the classroom that might easily be found in the park? This is not sense, or justice. This is a weak and implausible subterfuge. Obviously. Obviously.

To herd black students into elite university seats, when they have performed at non-elite levels in high school -- this might be called 'lambs to the slaughter.' And to discriminate against Asians because they have a culture that honors scholarship and diligence? How is this not Manzanar? Obviously.

Since these schools accept government funds, are they not subject to the strictures of the 14th Amendment? "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; ... nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." What seems relevant, and OBVIOUS, is that thing about equal protection. That means, to me, equal treatment. For Asians, as for blacks, as for whites. For all of us.

We are not all equal. Obviously. Some of us achieve superior results with less effort. Hardly fair. But the rising of excellence, earned or innate, benefits our culture. Ours is not the despotism of that oriental potentate who walked through a field of poppies cutting down the tallest as a warning to his subjects -- that none might believe himself worthy to rival the king. We dare, here, to rival every man, and if we have the ability we might prevail. If we fail, we must find our excellence somewhere else. How is this wrong?

Cultures that encourage mediocrity deserve to fail and become extinct. We accommodate mediocrity -- we do not promote it. By we, I mean intelligent and sane people who want to contribute to the beauty of the world. As for them, well, where’s an oriental potentate when you need one.


J