Free Republic

Last year, advocates of racial preferences in California, where they’d been banned since 1996, attempted to change the law so that state colleges and universities could again give admission advantages to certain groups. Despite outspending opponents by about 15-1 and with backing from big business, labor, and other organizations, the effort at repealing racial neutrality failed by 57-43 percent. That result underscores a point that opinion polls have shown for decades—that Americans on the whole oppose racial favoritism. The California result suggests that the case for preferences is on thin ice. A new book is going to help further melt...

The University of California will not take SAT and ACT scores into account in admissions or scholarship decisions for its system of 10 schools, which include some of the nation’s most sought-after campuses, in accordance with a settlement in a lawsuit brought by students. The settlement announced on Friday signals the end of a lengthy legal debate over whether the University of California system should use the standardized tests, which students of color and those with disabilities have said put them at a disadvantage. Opponents of the tests called the settlement “historic,” and said that it would broaden access to...

The recently enacted Covid-19 relief law and other bills wending their way through Congress openly favor members of certain races or ethnic categories. It’s hard to see how any of this legislation—all part of the Biden-Harris administration’s new focus on racial “equity” at the expense of equality—passes constitutional muster. That doesn’t mean that the courts will strike them down. We have today a new, unwritten constitution—a hodgepodge of executive orders, court decisions, legislation, and conventions. Of course, we already have a written Constitution, drafted in 1787 and amended since. The cognitive dissonance of living under these two constitutional regimes is...

The real reason that Georgetown Law fired adjunct professor Sandra Sellers is because she told the truth about affirmative actionBy Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)March 11, 2021The New York Post just wrote:Georgetown Law professor caught complaining about black students on Zoom: videoA white Georgetown Law professor was fired Thursday after getting caught on video belittling black students during a Zoom call with a colleague, saying they “usually” perform “just plain at the bottom” of her classes.Georgetown Law Dean Bill Treanor said he was “appalled” by the conversation between now-terminated adjunct professor Sandra Sellers and another faculty member, David Batson,...

President Biden likes to talk about “healing” and “unity,” but he also keeps pledging to prioritize the supposed interests of certain favored minority groups. When is he going to realize that his goals of racial unification and racial favoritism are at cross-purposes? Last week Mr. Biden signed an executive order on “racial equity.” He said that George Floyd’s death last summer “marked a turning point in this country’s attitude toward racial justice” and is “forcing us to confront systemic racism and white supremacy.” He added that “this nation and this government need to change their whole approach to the issue...

On Tuesday, six days into Joe Biden’s administration, it became clear why Susan Rice, hitherto a foreign-policy specialist, was named director of the Domestic Policy Council. Rice — unconfirmable for a Cabinet post after her unembarrassed Sunday-show lying about the Benghazi terrorist attack — ventured into the White House press room to preview Biden’s “equity” initiative. With one possible exception, the specific policies announced were less important than the word ­“equity,” invoked 19 times by Rice and nine by Biden. Ending federal private prison contracts and combating “xenophobia” against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are small potatoes as federal policies....

Five of the largest U.S. banks publicly committed to mandating a diverse slate of applicants when hiring employees, part of a push to diversify an industry whose top ranks remain largely white and male. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp all said they would either adjust policies for considering job candidates or disclose the ones they already have in place. Their policies mirror the so-called Rooney Rule, which started in the National Football League as a way of making sure people of color are considered for coaching jobs. In recent years, the rule...

The Jefferson fiasco underscores how activist school leaders and alumni, from California to Massachusetts, are conspiring to recklessly overhaul school policies, education standards, and curriculum this year.FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. – After a crusade by educational arsonists targeting the nation’s No. 1 high school, America’s meritocracy is about to go up in flames. The Fairfax County School Board is set to vote Thursday night to gut the race-blind, merit-based admissions testing process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. T.J. is a state-chartered magnet school legislated to serve academically gifted and advanced students. The school board plans to replace...

The state of Oregon, hoping to strike a blow against both the pandemic and “systemic racism,” has established a Covid relief fund exclusively for blacks and black-owned businesses. The Oregon Cares Fund website accurately describes the program as “unprecedented.” It is also surely unconstitutional. In July the Oregon Legislature Emergency Board allotted $200 million to assist small businesses suffering losses because of the pandemic and government-ordered shutdowns. Of the total, $62 million was set aside for the Oregon Cares Fund, whose website describes it as “a Fund for Black people, Black-owned businesses, and Black community based organizations.” Black families are...

Covid-19 has devastated small businesses nationwide, and New York’s entrepreneurs and landlords have been particularly hard hit. In response, Governor Andrew Cuomo has awarded millions of dollars to affected small businesses through the New York Forward Loan Fund. But to get these taxpayer-funded loans, it helps to be a minority-owned business, as designated by the state, because Cuomo’s office has announced that it will be “focusing on” Covid relief for minority- and women-owned firms. Relief was welcome news for those receiving grants, but small-business owners unable to obtain aid may feel like they have been shunned because of their race....

Nasdaq Inc. aims to require listed companies to include women and people of diverse racial identities or sexual orientation on their boards, the exchange operator said Tuesday. Nasdaq filed a proposal with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would require listed companies to have at least one female board member, plus one board member from an underrepresented minority or who is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Companies that don’t meet the standard would be required to explain why not. Nasdaq has determined that over the past six months, more than three-quarters of its listed companies would have fallen short of...

On Monday, the network introduced an initiative that requires these shows to ensure that 50% of their casts are Black, Indigenous or People of Color, or BIPOC. Additionally, the network has committed to putting at least 25% of its development budget towards creators and producers who are BIPOC. These reality TV targets will kick off during the 2021-22 broadcast season. “The reality TV genre is an area that’s especially underrepresented, and needs to be more inclusive across development, casting, production and all phases of storytelling,” George Cheeks, president and CEO for the CBS Entertainment Group, said in a statement.

State Dept Officials Were Skeptical about Christopher Steele Reports The Left’s Plan for Election Violence After Chinese Steal Billions in Research, We Finally Ban Them Judicial Watch is Suing to Colorado to Clean Up Its Voter Rolls Stopping California’s Diversity Quotas for Corporate Boards Judicial Watch Contested Virginia Officials’ Secret Meeting on BLM Riot State Dept Officials Were Skeptical about Christopher Steele Reports We have now received 48 pages of emails among top Obama State Department officials and a U.S. Ambassador expressing skepticism about Steele reports by Steele’s London-based private intelligence firm Orbis Business Intelligence. Steele was the author...

President Trump has ordered an end to training on “white privilege” and “critical race theory” in the federal bureaucracy. The directive is a good first step toward removing identity politics from federal operations. Next up should be the millions of taxpayer dollars devoted annually to cultivating race- and sex-based grievance in the sciences. The National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have all embraced the idea that science is pervaded by systemic bias that handicaps minorities and women. Those agencies have taken on the job of extirpating such inequity on the...

Ahead of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy’s fifth anniversary, the Academy has announced a new set of inclusion requirements films must meet to be awards-eligible. To be eligible for best picture, films must meet the standards of two out of four categories laid out in a press release on Tuesday: “Onscreen Representation, Themes and Narratives,” “Creative Leadership and Project Team,” “Industry Access and Opportunities” and “Audience Development.” Recent best picture nominees including “1917” and “The Irishman” may have struggled to meet the new onscreen standards that will require at least one of the following criterion to be met: at least one of...

As promised when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its Academy Aperture 2025 initiative in June, new standards of representation and inclusion have been announced by AMPAS today that will gradually be put in place for the 94th (2022) and 95th (2023) Oscars, but in full effect beginning with the 96th Academy Awards in 2024. In its most dramatic swing towards true diversity, Oscar is laying down significant requirements in order to be eligible for Hollywood’s most sought after prize: Best Picture. Having at least one Asian, Hispanic/Latinx, Black/African American, Indigenous/Native American/Alaskan Native, Middle Eastern/North African, Native...

Boeing is seeking to increase black US employees throughout the company by 20 percent and mandate benchmarks for hiring people of color, Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told employees in a memo on Friday reviewed by Reuters. US corporations have become more responsive to complaints related to racial equality following a summer of sweeping anti-racism protests over the slaying of black people by police. The changes at Boeing, a stalwart defense contractor with its corporate headquarters in Chicago and largest factories in Washington state and South Carolina, appeared to mark the first concrete steps by the planemaker to address the issue....

In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209 by an impressive 56-to-44 percent majority. Prop 209 amended the state’s constitution to prohibit the granting of preferences based on race or gender. It inaugurated a series of campaigns, led by businessman and University of California Regent Ward Connerly, that by 2006 had established similar prohibitions in 10 states. A few weeks ago, in a move perfectly in sync with the racial politics of 2020, the California legislature put a referendum on the November ballot that invites voters to repeal Prop 209. The new Proposition 16 would allow the state government, and state...

As bad as the New York Times can be right now, that will be nothing compared to how truly miserable it can become if it institutes the asinine race quotas and other demands that the paper's worker union is demanding. In a series of tweets on Friday, the News Guild of New York, representing the New York Times editorial staff, laid out several race-based items for the paper's leadership to start working on. Among them were for the company's workforce demographics to reflect that of New York City (race quotas); for each stage of the hiring process for a new...

At least two COVID-19 vaccines are scoring major successes in trials. That means a vaccine might be ready by year’s end, but not in sufficient quantity to vaccinate more than 300 million Americans. Frontline health workers and national-security personnel will be top priority, but after that, who comes next? A federal committee is considering pushing blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans to the front of the line, ahead of whites. Dr. José Romero, who chairs the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, wants minority groups to get favored treatment. Billionaire donor Melinda Gates likewise is pushing for blacks to get vaccinated...