Well-to-do Blacks (Vera Speaking)
		Comment				MAIN PATH: John
			John			Malik

You're talking about concentrating on poor blacks. I agree that something has to be done; but is affirmative action really the best way morally or politically to do it? For a long time race has been used as a way to divide working people in the United States. We are the only industrialized country that doesn't have a political party based on the working class. Affirmative action may encourage that division. Politicians tell ordinary white people that blacks are getting their jobs. The whites have no way of knowing how much of it is true and some fear the worst. I'm not sure that it's worth it.

Think of it this way: Suppose we had compensatory programs aimed at the poor in general. We could require that blacks be served proportionately. If 30% of the poor are black, then the programs would be guaranteed to be 30% black.

We need to get away from the notion that affirmative action is just something for black people. That would not only help poor whites, whom I think deserve something, but it would also help the blacks who need it the most. And it would do so in a way that does not create more conflict between ordinary black people and ordinary white people.

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