Posted on 08/14/2003 9:34:15 AM PDT by The Rant
I suppose I should stop being surprised when something outrageous happens and I find out it comes from California. This time California is threatening to prohibit the 4H Club, a club formed to promote awareness and appreciation for agriculture through activities and education, from participating in a community fair because they have not reached racial quotas. They have even gone so far as to threaten to disband the group should they not meet the requirements immediately. The idea of racial diversity is a good one in theory. The practice of forced racial diversity through forced participation is asinine.
Because the 4H Club, a club for students aged 5 to 18 years of age, is administered by the University of California’s Cooperative Extension (it practically sounds socialist doesn’t it?) and the US Department of Agriculture, they are forced to busy themselves with the ridiculous notion that 5 to 18 year olds are concerned with racial diversity when in fact all they want to do is participate in activities that have to do with animals and nature. In a day and age where we find the family farm nearly erased from existence one would think that we would be happy to have young people interested in the subject of agriculture and husbandry. In many cases it is hard enough for 4H programs to exist at all because of a declining interest in agriculture in our nation. But that doesn’t seem to bother the authority figures in California.
I have written about a man named Ward Connerly before. He is one of the people heading up Proposition 54 and a motivating force behind Proposition 204 in California. Both of these propositions address the need for the erasure of a persons color, not a person’s heritage but the effect and the importance society had placed on a person’s race. He believes that in order to erase the lines of color that are currently used to divide us we must become colorblind as a people. Not unlike the very young who have no idea they are different until their tainted parents tell them so, Mr. Connerly believes that if we stop dividing ourselves by race intentionally we will be able to someday put the issue of race behind us completely. Personally, I agree with him on the matter. But in every great cause there are those who would rather protect their right to exist, their penchant for authority and exert their shallow-minded naiveté into a situation so full of common sense that they stick out like acne on an otherwise porcelain complexion. Thus is the case in California.
The Los Angeles County Director of the UC Cooperative Extension sent the Antelope Valley 4H Club a letter saying that because they didn’t reach the predetermined racial quota for their target area, the school in which they hold their meetings, they would be prohibited from participating in the Antelope Valley Fair. They went even further saying that they would be disbanded should the quota not be reached. This presents a very valid question. Should children be forced to participate in a program they have no interest in simply for the sake of diversity so that others who actually want to enjoy the program have the opportunity? It seems this needs to be the case in Antelope Valley thanks to the ridiculous notion that a children’s agriculture-based activities group needs to be affected by quotas that should, for the betterment of society, be abolished.
I can see it now, 4H counselors combing the streets of East Los Angeles, recruiting gang-bangers for the 4H club. I am sure there wouldn’t be too many visits to the hospital for those trying to provide the numbers for those threatening the program’s demise. Can you hear the conversations that would take place? “Hey, what are you doing? Why not come down to the 4H Club meeting. We are going to be setting up a field trip to the local co-op farm to see how they have set up their irrigation systems. It will be fun. What? Well, yes, of course there are hoes on the farm. No. That’s what the irrigation system is all about, keeping the crack from happening.”
The idea that we must prohibit children from experiencing something positive and productive in a society that has become increasingly mired in a quagmire of violence, crime and apathy, especially when the children themselves are seeking out the positive and productive aspects of our culture, is completely backwards and it is all being done in the name of diversity. In this instance, as it is with most instances of mandatory racial diversity today, the practice is itself creating divisiveness in our communities.
Let’s hope that the statistical bubbleheads that are demanding these quotas (quotas – didn’t the Supreme Court have something to say about racial quotas?) be forced upon the good in our society come to grips with the fact that you can’t achieve excellence by tearing things down. To achieve inclusiveness is to create an atmosphere that fosters the desire to be included. You can’t force people to do things. In this case, the idea of racial difference is being hammered home. It is doing exactly the opposite of what the intentions of those who administer the quotas are trying to achieve.
Good luck Mr. Connerly, your time has come and none too soon.
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Frank Salvato is a political media consultant, a freelance writer from the Midwest and the Managing Editor for www.TheRant.us. He is a contributing writer to The Washington Dispatch. He has appeared as a guest panelist on The O’Reilly Factor and his pieces are featured at OpinionEditorials.com, and Townhall.com.
It'll have to be 5H, then. Head, Heart, Hands, Health, and Ho's.
No it's not!
Funny, I thought even the Supremes said that was a no-no.
The sad fact is that you still have to bring suit in court to get a Supreme Court edict ENFORCED. These 'civil servants' know that they can ram this stuff down our throats and wait for us to sue them at our own expense. Echhh!
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
Really? I grew up on the farm and participated in 4H and FFA big time. I grew pigs and cattle. But that was over 20 years ago and I live in the city and am out of touch.
Are you serious about that statement?
Yes, I am serious. The government is destroying these two wonderful programs that the Grange started. That is why people like It's me are joinging Grange again. Our youth fair program has been replacing 4H for several years now. We have launched the new Youth for America program. The youth programs in the Grange are not just animals. They include all the stuff you can exibit at the fair. Photography, painting, wood and needle crafts, and essays.
The Grange also has a wonderful political advocacy program. Founded in 1867, the Grange is the oldest general farm and public policy organization in the US.
Here is an example of the wonderful youth we have in the Grange:
Willie The Goat Raises Money For A Good Cause
Because they want to destroy this country and everything that is good. Their hearts are filled with evil. They hate life itself -- their god is Satan.
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