Connerly continues . . .
“There is not one major American success throughout our history that can be placed at the doorstep of “diversity.” All that we are as a nation we owe to merit and individual enterprise. A quota system is the antithesis of a meritocracy. Quotas seek to build a workforce, a student body, a team, that “looks like America,” or that “reflects the ethnic and racial composition of the community.” An enterprise or venue based on merit simply tries to be the best that it can be with nary a thought given to the physical or ancestral characteristics of those involved.”
TheStateOf…Affirmative Action and Diversity. Attacking Ward Connerly’s motives or his personality would be like taking candy from a baby. I could call him an “Uncle Tom” or a “House Negro.” I could point out that he received tons of money from known white supremacists. But I’m not going to do that. Ward Connerly is the most effective anti-Afrirmative Action crusader in America, and, therefore, it is his ideas, rather than his personality, that I must challenge. Like most paid political polemicists, Connerly starts from an insincere premise–that diversity–alone–does not contribute anything to the success of a school, government or business. Nothing could be further from the truth; schools, governments and businesses recognizes this fact. When Microsoft, GE or any other corporate titans design their business strategies, they rely on the advice of trained professionals. But even the most highly trained white businessperson cannot tell WalMart that Chinese shoppers like to touch the actual product before they buy it, or that African Americans are more loyal to businesses that celebrate Black History Month. Sometimes it takes a person who understands the points of view of women or minorities to make a point, or to broaden the pool of ideas, and that helps business. In order to provoke a certain image in the mind of his readers, Connerly stoops to the level of repeating the dreaded word “quota,” when he knows full well that the use of racial quotas was discontinued over a decade ago. Connerly praises entrepeneurs and industrialists because, as we all know, all businessmen achieved their station in life only through the “principle of merit,” right? We need look no further than the White House to see through this hallow and vacuous argument. I would venture to say that the majority of top-level businesspersons in America were helped substantially through family connections or wealth.
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