But defenders of affirmative action said the ban amounted to an act of discrimination, because it blocked only minority students from seeking preferences in school admissions.
They argued that students seeking, for example, a preference for admitting children of alumni could take their case to a school directly, while those seeking a racial preference would have to first persuade voters to amend the state constitution.
If you haven't read this, you should. Turn off any bigoted attitudes and read it. MLK was a man to respect, he did not expect something for nothing. We aren't there yet but, hopefully we'll get there some day.
quote
'(1 HAVE A DREAM ..." LVTFIERKING, (Copyright 1963, M.~RTIN JR.) Speeoh by the Rev. MAXTIN LUTHEE KING At the "Marah ~n Wa&hi~xgton" I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the histmy of olw nation. Five smre yeag ago a great American in whw sp- Imlic shadow we stand today signed the Emancipation Proshation. This momen~tous deoree is a great W n light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It cmm ais a joyous d:tybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But 100 years later the Negro still is nok free. One hun- dred yearn later the life of t,he Xegro is still badly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of diwrimination. One hundred gears later the Negro lives on a lonely island of povedp in the mjidst d a vast meam of matr.ria1 prosperity. Ow hundred years later the Negao is still lanlgnisl~cd ill the cornem of American =ie$ and finds hinleclf in exile in his m lad. So wu'vc come ho1.c. today to (1mma.tize a shamdul ccmditicm. In a sense w~tl'wGome to our nation's capital to cash a c+heck. When the aJrrahiteet.s o~f our Republic wrote the mzpifiemt WOI-(1s of the Constitution and the hlaration d Lmdepcintlc.nce, thcp were signing a promissory note to which ewry hlerioan was to fall heir. This note was a promise that. dl IWII-yes, black nwn as well as white me-n-would he g~al.a~ltwdthe unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today tha$ America has defaulted on this promissory note inso- fkr as hnr citizens of cololr arc c.oncerned. Ins'tead of ,- honoring this sacred obligation, ~me&a has given the Nepo people a bad deck, a check whioh has come back marked "inisrdfioient funds. " But we refuse to believe that tihe bank of justice is tmikrupt. We ~.ef,fuse to belierc? that there are insufficient Suncis in the gma,t vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we've come to cash this check, ti check that will give 11s upon demand the ridlcs of f~eedom and the security of justice. We have dw conic to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgcacp of now. This is no time to cl~g,agcin the 11ixui~ of cooling off or to ta.ke the t-ran- quilizing di-ng of gradualism. Now is the time to make leal the prmlisos of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and rlcsolatt. valley of segregation to the millit path of racial j~wticc~.Now is the time to lift our ion from the qaicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of bbr.fitfherhowl. Now is the time t.o nlalrc justice a 1-mlity for all a€ God's child~en. It wo~.ltlbe fatd for the nation to over- look the urgency of the momen,t. This swelte&.g summer of the Xegro's legitimate discontent. will nat pass until there is an invigol-atiag autumn of freedm and equality -1963 is not an end but rz beginning. who hope that the Xegro needed to blow off sim.m and will now be c*cmtenlwill have a ndc a wakening if the miioln retumw to business as wud. There will be neither rest nor tranquility In America, until the Negro is granted his fiitizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will con:t.inue to shake the fouda- tiom of our nation until the bright dqs of justice merge. (Copyright 1963. MARTINLCTI-XFR KIW., JR.) Anii that is something that I must say to my people who at& an the worn threshold whioh leads the palm of justice. In the prmess d gaining our rightful plw we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by dl-i;nking from the cup of bithrness anld hahd. We must forever conduct our struggle cm t~he high plane of dignity and diwipline. We must not allow oar erea- tive proltests to degenerate into physicd videme. Again and again we must. rise to t<he maje&ic heights of m&t.ing physical form with soul force. The marvelous new mili- tancy whi& has engulfed the Negro communi.ty must not lead us t.o distrust all white people, for mamy d our white bro;tlwr.s, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that tlheir destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come t30 realize that their freedom is in- extricably hound to qur fredorn. We cannot walk alone. And rn we walk we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are thase who atweasldng the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as lomg as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of , police brutality. Tire can never. be mtisficd as long as our bodie~s,heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the matds of the highways and the hot& od the &ties. We mnmt be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied a+slong as our children are atripped of the,ir adulthood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only." (Copyright 1963. MARTIHLUTHERKING, JR.) We canad be srtthfid a63 10% as the-Negro in Mis- sisbippi oannot vote and the %fegro' in New York believes he has nothing for prrbiah to vde. 6 \ . No, no, we are not satisfied, dwe will wit be sakis- Eed until justice. rolls down like wakemi azEd rightemm~ like ,a mighty beam. I ain not unmindful that some otf you have cde here , ' out of' gm.t trials a.nd tribulation. Some of you have come frewh from narrow jail dls. Some of you have ' oom4 from areas where your ,quest for freedm left you 1m.ttered by the stoms of persecuhn and stagger& by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans' of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that- nmmd sufferkg is redemptive. Go baek to hiississippi, go back to Ala- f hma, go back to Sonth Carolina, go back to Georgia, go . twk to Louisiana, go back to the slum and ghet-tm d our Nmthern cities, knowing t.bt somehow this situation &an and will be cihamged. Lit us not wa.Ilow in the vailey of despair. I say to you %day,my friends, though, even though we face the difficultiesof toclay and torno~~ow, I still haw a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Amerieaa cham. I have a dream thak me day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-erident, that all men are created equal." I have a dream tbt olle day on the red hills of Georgia sow of for~rmei- slaves and the *om of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at tqhe table of brother- hod. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the beat d injustice, (Copyright 1963, MARTINLUTHF~ KING, JR.) sweltering with tihe heat of oppression, will be trans- f'onned hto an oasis of freedom and 'justice. I have a ream that my four little children will me day live in a 13iat.icmwhere they will not be judged by the oololr of ;their ~kii but by the content of their &rmtm.r.r I have u dram . . . I have a dresjlm that one cEay in AJabama., with ibs vbious racists, with its governor h.avin.g his lips dripping with the wards of interpwitim wd nullifi+tion, one day right t.here in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with litkle white boyis and white girls as sist&s and brothers. 1 bvg a dream today . . . I have a aream that one day every vadley shall be exdted, every hill and mountain &dl be made low. The rough places wild be made plain, aad the crooked places 'will be made straight. &nd the glory of the Lord shall be rereal&, and all flesh &all see it together. This is our hope. This is thle faith that 1 go I>aolc to bhhc Sout.h wi1,h. Wikh this faith we will be able to hew out d the mount& of despair a stane of I~o~rn.Vith this faith we will be able to transform the jsl~gling discords of our nation into a b~utif~l symphony cd' brotherhwd. MTith this faith we will be able ta work together, to pray to get he^, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand ap for freedom @ether, knowing that we will he frre one day. This will be the day when all of God's ahildren will be able to sing with new meaning. "My country, 'tis of thee, swot lami of liberty, of the I sing. Land where my ?'athers did, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every n~ountain side, let freedom ring." And if herim is to he rr great nation, this mudt become true. So let freedom sing from the pr~igious hilltops d New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New (Copyright 1963, MARTISIXI'HERKING,JR.) Park. kt,freedom ring from the heightertiing Allegknies of Pennsylvania. kt freedom ring frm the mowcapped Rmkias o& Colorado. Let freedom ring from the eurva- c+mus slow of California. But nat hnly that. Let freedom rhg from Stone Msun- tain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Looko;ut Moun- t-& of Tmcj.ssee. kt freedom ring from every hill and molehill of hGssiwippi, from every mounhin side. Let freedom ring . . . When we allow freedom to ring-when we let it ring from every city and every ha.mlet, from every s~tate and every aity, we will be able to speed up that day when dl CUF God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Proteslhts and Catholim, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Fm at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We axe free at last." (Copyright 1963, MARTINLUTHER JR.) KING
MLK's dream will come true when all have equal opportunity. This I agree with. I do not expect something for nothing nor, do I expect to be required to give unto someone just because they are whatever. Everyone deserves a chance but, not based on what you are but, what is in your head, heart and character. Everyone has an opportunity, some opportunities have to be earned, I say, go for it. No one deserves a free ride though. No One.
------------------ Ron Count Down to A Better America: http://countingdownto.com/countdown/196044 Isn't it strange that after a bombing, everyone blames the bomber, his upbringing, his environment, his culture, his mental state but … after a shooting, the problem is the gun?
My Uncle Frank was a staunch Conservative and voted straight Republican until the day he died in Chicago. Since then he has voted Democrat. Shrug
Either there's something wrong with my computer or that is NOT the actual text of MLK's speech.
quote
I~o~rn.Vith this faith we will be able to transform the jsl~gling discords of our nation into a b~utif~l symphony cd' brotherhwd. MTith this faith we will be able ta work together, to pray to get he^, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand ap for freedom @ether, knowing that we will he frre one day. This will be the day when all of God's ahildren will be able to sing with new meaning. "My country, 'tis of thee, swot lami of liberty, of the I sing. Land where my ?'athers did, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every n~ountain side, let freedom ring." And if herim is to he rr great nation, this mudt become true.
Either there's something wrong with my computer or that is NOT the actual text of MLK's speech.
[QUOTE]I~o~rn.Vith this faith we will be able to transform the jsl~gling discords of our nation into a b~utif~l symphony cd' brotherhwd. MTith this faith we will be able ta work together, to pray to get he^, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand ap for freedom @ether, knowing that we will he frre one day. This will be the day when all of God's ahildren will be able to sing with new meaning. "My country, 'tis of thee, swot lami of liberty, of the I sing. Land where my ?'athers did, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every n~ountain side, let freedom ring." And if herim is to he rr great nation, this mudt become true.
Seems ok to me?
[This message has been edited by pokeyfiero (edited 04-23-2014).]
SCOTUS tosses affirmative action in regards to college enrollments. Not exactly ... if I am correct. What they affirmed was the right of the people to amend the state constitution.
The court affirmed the use of race in the admissions process, but made it harder for institutions to use such policies to achieve diversity.
What leaves me perplexed is ... if a state can amend it's own constitution as it sees fit, what's up with the ruling against California when they amended their constitution prohibiting gay marriage. Me thinks it's in the way it was argued. If I recall, California state attorney's did not argue correctly before the court, basically throwing the case.
In my opinion the question of race or nationality should be removed from every single government form or application. That quesition in itself breeds discrimination.
In my opinion the question of race or nationality should be removed from every single government form or application. That quesition in itself breeds discrimination.
I disagree. I think nationality is VERY important; by that I mean American. If you want to remove all refernce to race or ETHNICITY, I'll agree to that. Nationality is important to me, US citizens should ge thte edge in the US.
I recently heard this quote from John Roberts for a 2007 case which sums up my opinion well. "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."
We aren't there yet but, hopefully we'll get there some day.
MLK's dream will come true when all have equal opportunity.
It isn't going to happen with this president.
Contrast MLK's speech versus this conversation Obama had in 2001:
In the interview, Obama discusses the best way to bring about a redistribution of wealth. He speaks of the "tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change."
Yes, redistributive change. He said that it was a tragedy that the Constitution wasn't radically reinterpreted to force redistribution of the wealth: "I am not optimistic," he said, "about bringing about redistributive change through the courts. The institution just isn't structured that way." He praised the Civil Rights Movement and its "litigation strategy in the court" for succeeding in vesting "formal rights in previously dispossessed peoples."
Yet for Obama the civil rights movement didn't go far enough, because it didn't venture into socialism. "One of the I think tragedies of the civil rights movement was because the civil rights movement became so court focused, I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change and in some ways we still suffer from that."
This was the fault of the Supreme Court and the Constitution itself: "But the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth and sort of more basic issues of political and economic justice in this society. And to that extent as radical as people tried to characterize the Warren court, it wasn't that radical." And that was because of the constraints of the Constitution: "It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it's been interpreted, and the Warren court interpreted it in the same way that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. It says what the states can't do to you, it says what the federal government can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf. And that hasn't shifted." Obama attended a church for 20 years, and was close friends with the pastor, that believes in black liberation theology. One of the basic tenets is the provide "restitution" for the wrongs the U.S. has done to blacks.
Therefore, affirmative action is not only justified, it is a right and necessary step. For many of you, that is the man you voted for. Many of you twice.
It MIGHT be the actual text of MLKs speech (you know, if MLK was a Klingon).
It was a copy and paste of MLK's speech. Klingon?
------------------ Ron Count Down to A Better America: http://countingdownto.com/countdown/196044 Isn't it strange that after a bombing, everyone blames the bomber, his upbringing, his environment, his culture, his mental state but … after a shooting, the problem is the gun?
My Uncle Frank was a staunch Conservative and voted straight Republican until the day he died in Chicago. Since then he has voted Democrat. Shrug
Here you go Don. Copy and Paste it yourself. See if you do any better.
MLK's message was the important thing I was trying to point out. Apparently, my attempt missed the target.
------------------ Ron Count Down to A Better America: http://countingdownto.com/countdown/196044 Isn't it strange that after a bombing, everyone blames the bomber, his upbringing, his environment, his culture, his mental state but … after a shooting, the problem is the gun?
My Uncle Frank was a staunch Conservative and voted straight Republican until the day he died in Chicago. Since then he has voted Democrat. Shrug
On 28 August, 1963, Martin Luther King delivered his magnificent "I have a dream speech" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Below is the full text of his speech.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But 100 years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we've come to cash this check - a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: in the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights: "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied and we will not be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning: "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California. But not only that. Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi, from every mountainside, let freedom ring! And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
[This message has been edited by tesmith66 (edited 04-24-2014).]
I disagree. I think nationality is VERY important; by that I mean American. If you want to remove all refernce to race or ETHNICITY, I'll agree to that. Nationality is important to me, US citizens should ge thte edge in the US.
I recently heard this quote from John Roberts for a 2007 case which sums up my opinion well. "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."
