Voices loud and righteous are cheering the U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting affirmative action. "Quotas" are definitely unfair, they say. We should all be judged as individuals.
Hey, kids, let me tell you about quotas, an ancient and honorable American custom.
Forty years ago, in 1955, I was hired as a secretary at a Honeywell plant in Minneapolis. I had access to company policy manuals, and there it was, in clear print: the personnel department had quotas to help the company comply with President Franklin Roosevelt's Fair Employment Practices (FEP) executive order.
I was aware of racial and religious quotas for admission to medical and law colleges, first instituted to give Jews an entry to those professions, but I had not seen it openly in the workplace. I don't remember the numbers, but there they were--Honeywell would seek certain percentages of employees who were Jewish, Oriental and black. (The big Hispanic immigration came later.) Very progressive company, right? Multicultural work force. Big FEP signs on the walls. I repeat--this was 1955.
But when our section came to Florida in 1957 to open a new plant in Pinellas County--no FEP signs, no nonwhite employees. Personnel staff said we couldn't upset "local customs."
Fast forward to 1967. I was a volunteer in an action center in Clearwater's black community when U.S. Atty. Gen. Bobby Kennedy cracked down on defense plants for not hiring minorities. The same Honeywell personnel staff came to our office, asking help to find "qualified black workers." Ditto for GE and Sperry Rand. Yes, we knew "qualified blacks"; we also knew the state employment office was telling black applicants the area had no openings for their skills. FEDERAL pressure and active volunteers helped some find good jobs.
Ahead again to 1994. A young black PhD candidate invited me to a class at the university to hear a report on "red-lining"--the common practice of banks denying loans in racial ghettos. A young woman read a well-documented report, then asked for questions.
And the questions came, in controlled but hostile voices. Here were the "angry white males"--rejecting proof of discrimination.
They knew blacks got all the breaks and they got none. The facial expressions, the tone of the voices, the body language of the speakers--all spoke racial hostility, loud and frighteningly clear.
The Civil Rights Movement opened educational and economic doors for many black people - after FEDERAL action was taken - and a solid black middle class now exists. Still behind their white peers, but well out of the poverty that grips the lower third of their community. It took FEDERAL action to accomplish this.
And if white folks think the "angry white male" employers will really judge minorities on merit alone (once free of affirmative action pressure), they just haven't been close to the scene.
Perhaps if the public schools taught real history, interracial relations would improve and special laws would not be needed.