[jjm2111]

Oh puh-leese. Tell me where I can pick my "power elite" membership card.

[anymouse]

Apparently reading the constitution isn't a hobby for these race baiters. Maybe they should try living just about anywhere else but America and see what institutional racism really is.

Posting stuff from a leftist propaganda site like Alter.net doesn't add value if you don't provide some commentary to go along with it. All you are doing is spreading their lies when you post it without providing your take on it.

[SunStar]

Yawn... Wake me up when the Left decides to stop the racism emanating from their minions. Enough already!!

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

Even granting the author's premise (which I don't), injustice is not corrected by perpetrating new injustice.

[laotzu]

"Affirmative action for whites was embodied in...
Affirmative action for whites was the essence of...
Affirmative action for whites was the guiding principle..."

Does the author consider all of the above good things; and justify its continued practice because of that?

Does what is good & bad change depending on which friday of the month it is?

[Question_Assumptions]

I just wish that someone, somewhere, would remember the old saying that two wrongs don't make a right. And if the author payed more attention, he'd realize that the Irish were systematically discriminated against, the Italians and Poles were systematically discriminated against, and, as the author points out, the Chinese were systematically discriminated against yet none of these groups ever needed to get reparations. Indeed, if we were to draw reparations out of the general tax funds, Chinese Americans would wind up paying reparations for slavery that they never practiced and discrimination that they never benefitted from. Or are we going to interview everyone about their ethnic background and assign an individual percentage of blame?

[Hodar]

Gosh, I'm so busy trying to make ends meet; providing for my family ... that I just haven't had time to make it to one of our secret "Keepin' the Black Brothers Down" meetings. < /sarcasm off>.

It's universally easier to blame someone else, for your own short comings. In America, it's the white male that is the cause of all of mankinds ills. Considering what the rest of the world has managed to make of itself, I think 'ol whitey' has something to brag about... but I digress. In the middle east, Israel is the scapegoat, here it's the white race.

[Dan from Michigan]

My dad grew up poor in different areas, mostly Detroit.

Here's the history of this BS notion of 'white privledge'.
"Irish need not apply".

For example, Michigan awards 20 points to any student from a low-income background, regardless of race. Since these points cannot be combined with those for minority status (in other words poor blacks don't get 40 points), in effect this is a preference for poor whites.
I have no problem with that for everyone.

Then Michigan awards 16 points to students who hail from the Upper Peninsula of the state: a rural, largely isolated, and almost completely white area.
I have no problem with that. The UP is largely a poor area. It's also NOT completely white. There's a large Chippewa population there.

Ten points are awarded to students who attended top-notch high schools,

I had a friend that went to an elite high school. Whites were the majority, but it was a very "diverse" school with a large East Indian, Arab, Asian, and black populations as well.

and another eight points are given to students who took an especially demanding AP and honors curriculum

And anyone can take those.

So the U of M offers 20 "extra" points to the typical black, Latino or indigenous applicant, while offering various combinations worth up to 58 extra points for students who will almost all be white

That is a poor ASSUMPTION. I assume black students from Farmington Hills, Sterling Heights, West Bloomfield, East Lansing, and Okemos don't take advantage of that. There are blacks outside Detroit and Flint.

being white has made no positive difference, is rooted in privilege itself: the privilege that allows one to not have to think about race on a daily basis;
Who does have to think about race on a daily basis(outside of your yapping)

to not have one's intelligence questioned by best-selling books;

"Stupid White men"

to not have to worry about being viewed as a "out of place" when driving,

Okay, I'll drive through the middle of Detroit, we'll see what happens. I could get pulled over. Cop: What the hell are you doing here? Drugs?

This article is a load of horsecrap.

[Texas_Jarhead]

all you folks don't forget that we stole half of mexico too

[Diddley]

Geez - These people (Wise, etc.) are so transparent.
The replies on this thread are so cogent - from "two wrongs don't make right" to "try any other country".

[headsonpikes]

Thanks for the hilarious post!

"...it is hardly an exaggeration to say that White America is the biggest collective recipient of racial preference in the history of the cosmos."

Nope, no exaggeration there...'history of the cosmos'...choke, laugh, and spew!

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[Leto]

Well my family up until they came to America in the 20th century, were tenant farmers for English landowners for a few hundred years. So I don't feel any guilt in the victomization game. When my grandfather came to the US these were signs on establishments saying 'Dogs and Irishmen not permitted'. He didn't whine he built a life. These guys need to get a life, everybody has a sob story.

[sauropod]

timjwise@msn.com

Posted as a public service...

[mhking]

I'm sick of someone (i.e., the author of this tripe) trying to make excuses for me. I didn't stop to ask anybody for excuses...

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[WriteOn]

must be talking about white *women*

[Michael2001]

Barf

[No Left Turn]

Even if fish were capable of speech, they would likely have no explanation for the element they swim in every minute of every day of their lives.

Let me get this straight, all that's keeping us from finding out whether fish can define water is their inability to speak. Note to self: quit peeing in the ocean, otherwise sign-language enabled fish will be able to tell on me.

Along the same lines, what's air?

[dark_lord]

Affirmative action for whites was embodied in the abolition of European indentured servitude, which left black (and occasionally indigenous) slaves as the only unfree labor in the colonies that would become the U.S.

And even this is BS. Something technically true that is actually false. Here's another angle on that -- the history that most are ignorant of. Maybe we could have a White History Month to teach this.

In the 17th century the average life expectancy (in England) was around 35 years. More accurately however, if one lived to 15 then one had good odds of hitting 50. BUT! A large number of those "transported" were teenagers, and many died on the trip. Why?

Because the exact same kind of ships, and sometimes the exact same ships that were used in the slave trade were used to transport criminals from England to the colonies. And criminals could be transported (or hanged) for a variety of things that today would be considered misdemeanors. The magistrates were paid money by the ship owners to assign petty criminals for transport (in preference to hanging.) "Trials" were often held in the magistrates living rooms or a private office, where 12 year old kids were convicted of the crime of petty theft - stealing so they wouldn't starve to death. The local "watch" or cops would get a kickback from the magistrate. The ship captains would then sell their "indentures" when they got over here.

The death rate on the transport ships was similar to the slave ships. The conditions were the same - the transportees were chained down and packed into the holds. Where the African slave ships were hot, the Northern route was COLD (and wet.) Many died of lung congestion and fevers. While fewer transportees died on a ship that made it compared to the slave ships, because of storms in the North Atlantic more ships were lost entirely, which tended to balance out the total losses as being about the same.

When a transportee had their indenture sold, it was normally for a period of seven years. The men were often used for clearing land and other hazardous activities, women were often used for prostitution, although many were used for house servants. However, in many cases the indentured servant had to pay for extra clothes, meals, etc. Thus their length of service was added on to the original seven years.

While the children of indentured servants could not be "sold", their parents could be charged for their childrens food, clothing, and housing, thus adding to the length of the parents indenture. Thus many indentured servants had many years added to their terms of indenture. The lucky childern would be apprenticed off around the age of 6 - 8. This was a good deal for them, because they could learn a trade and would be free. For those who weren't apprenticed, they would go on to be servants or laborers themselves.

Many transportees who were indentured never became free.

The above notwithstanding, the significant difference between the indenture system and slavery is that the children of the indentured servants could be free, and most were.

[johnb838]

"How bout a little more California, and a little less Mexico"

Tim Calhoun