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Apr 8 08 12:31 AM
There were thirty years between Heston's aggressive civil-rights campaign and his much later belief that affirmative action had had its day and (in its existing form) was becoming counter-productive for the country. Frankly, he's not alone there. Whether you agree or not, a number of extremely conscientious and highly intelligent whites and blacks on both the conservative and liberal sides of the fence share the same "startling" and seemingly politically incorrect sentiments. We have an excellent argumentative essay in our college writing textbook (by a young, liberal, female African-American writer who comments on social conditions) that argues that affirmative action has hurt more blacks than it has helped in the past ten to fifteen years. She contends that African-Americans would fare much better if today racial affirmative action were abolished and replaced by "Economic Affirmative Action" (the title of the essay). Most of the black students I teach (who, admittedly, haven't moved out too far into the "real" world) enthusiastically agree and think the essay is highly thought-provoking. As for the other Heston comments, I've seen a transcript of that speech, although it's been a while since I read it. He praises African-American leaders and the civil-rights movement for their vision and leadership over so many years, but he was incensed at the time over the Ice-T "Cop Killer" rap lyrics and was railing against the prevalence of (in his opinion) militant and destructive "black pride" messages that pushed "gutter culture" and "gang-banger" influences in music and black culture that (again, as he contended) were anti-white in particular and anti-racial peace and harmony on a much deeper and darker level. Heston said he found it sad, frustrating and ironic that many of the same people who were gun-control advocates (and therefore, in his words, anti-Second Amendment) also defended the First Amendment (pro-free speech) right of rappers and other entertainers to glamorize and encourage acts of black-on-white and black-on-black violence in their so-called "art." I believe he said that if black leaders weren't going to demand that black artists be more responsible and demand more positive public images among the African-American creative community, he was going to use his "white power" to say "enough is enough" (which is exactly what he did a little later when he challenged Time Warner on the "Cop Killer" issue). As for David Dukes, I'm sure he would jump on anything that would (even out of context) contribute to whatever racial agenda he subscribes to these days, though I do believe he has gone the George Wallace route and softened his stance on race relations in recent years. Regardless, there's a big difference in being against affirmative action -- from the start, in any form -- and proposing (as Heston was doing, and as the writer of "Economic Affirmative Action" is clearly doing) that we re-examine the effects of such a long-standing public policy and politically correct "sacred cow" in these rapidly changing times. Terry Pace pillaroffire@bellsouth.net "I'm a seeker too. But my dreams aren't like yours. I can't help thinking that somewhere in the universe there has to be something better than man. Has to be." -- Col. George Taylor (Charlton Heston) in Planet of the Apes (1968)
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