The Acts cited in this commentary were specifically designed, perhaps with malice aforethought, to undermine European American cohesion for the sake of multiculturalism. Moreover, those who imposed these Acts knew or should have known, either explicitly or intuitively, that European Americans had previously excelled, and would continue to naturally excel better –overall– compared to non-white groups. This historical and social fact apparently was unacceptable. –Ed.
by Mary Grabar
When I teach Barry Goldwater’s 1964 Republican Convention speech tomy college students, the few who know who Goldwater was usually claimthat he was a reactionary racist. They’ve learned their lessons wellfrom an educational system that presents any opposition to the 1964Civil Rights Act as ipso facto racism.
Goldwater opposed the act on constitutional grounds, specificallytitles II and VII, which allowed federal regulation of publicaccommodations and employment.
Now the Supreme Court is hearing the case of Ricci v. De Stefanoregarding denial of promotion to New Haven firefighters who scored thehighest on a test for advancement.
The problem was that, of the top 15 scorers, 14 were white and one was Hispanic.
No African-American firefighters qualified for promotion, so thecity, after disruption of meetings by protestors, claimed that the 1964act compelled them to disregard the exam results. So they decided toforego promotions. Plaintiffs don’t question the 1964 act, but the useof “intentional discrimination” in adhering to the statute, accordingto lawyer Peter S. Ferrara.
I do not question this strategy, but do think that much harm has been meted out by the 1964 act.
How illogical is this? The ACLU and LatinoJustice filed an amicusbrief against the high-scoring Hispanic firefighter (and the 14others), claiming that no one’s rights were violated.
The act has had a chilling effect on employment practices, withemployers “voluntarily” going to great lengths to avoid the perceptionof discrimination by tailoring jobs and offering higher salaries forjust such “protected classes.”
Goldwater’s principled resistance to public pressures, like Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, helped cost him the election.
It’s not that Goldwater did not work on behalf of equality andintegration. He was a member of the NAACP, and as city councilman inPhoenix, he led the struggle to end segregation in the city’s publicschools. As a U.S. senator, he hired a black woman as his first staffassistant — long before affirmative action laws.
Other actions by conservatives, like the Young Americans forFreedom’s threat to leave the Florida hotel where they were holdingtheir first national convention in 1963 if the owners did not allow JayParker, a black board member to stay, demonstrate convictions withoutneed of grandstanding.
Such history can be found, not in textbooks or mainstream media, butin Professor Donald T. Critchlow’s “The Conservative Ascendancy,” wherehe also recounts how 40,000 civil rights demonstrators denouncedGoldwater at the 1964 convention as “Hitler” — after moderateRepublicans like William Scranton started a smear campaign based onGoldwater’s opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Continuing the campaign, then-CBS reporter Daniel Schorr spread thelie that Goldwater, in an effort to appeal to right-wing elements inthe U.S., was planning to meet with right-wing (Nazi) representativeson a trip to Germany. Goldwater was partly of Jewish heritage and didnot have the trip planned until after the convention.
But such smears continue. D.L. Hughley, former host of a CNN program, remarked that the 2008 GOP convention looked “like Nazi Germany.”
The New Haven case has proven Goldwater’s prescience, though. Suchrigging toward racial outcomes violates principles of fairness andundermines confidence in the abilities of certain groups. Yet, suchefforts continue apace with moves to eliminate other tests like the ACTand SAT for college admissionsbecause Asians and whites perform better as groups. We do not live ourlives as groups, but as individuals.
We should follow the lead of Barry Goldwater and walk the walk, andforget the talk of the anti-constitutional advocacy groups who wouldsacrifice the dignity of the individual Hispanic in order to advancetheir own cause as saviors of groups of victims.
Mary Grabar, a writer, lives in Stone Mountain.