During the past two weeks, Rachel Alexander, Walter E. Williams, and several other columnists have criticized the concept of “white privilege”: the idea that European Americans still benefit today from the wrongs done to African Americans during the past 300 years. Alexander argued that this concept is “the left’s new censorship of free speech.” She pointed out that most of us have had at least some indirect experience with blatant discrimination, and that “a lack of advantages growing up can…..
Hana’s commanding yet friendly voice caught my attention during a rehearsal of the church choir in which I sing. I soon learned that she was working towards a master’s degree in music at the University of Missouri. Her spot-on and often irreverent comments about the music we were learning to sing made me smile, as I had engaged in similar behavior during choir rehearsals in college and graduate school. And she was a terrific singer.
About a year later, the…..
About two weeks ago, my wife, Lisa, and I listened to that now-infamous conversation between Los Angeles Clippers’ owner Donald Sterling and his mistress, V. Stiviano.
“You can sleep with them (black men) … you can do whatever you want,” Mr. Sterling told Ms. Stiviano. “The little I ask you is not to promote it on that (Instagram) and not to bring them to my games.”
“Almost too painful to listen to,” I told Lisa when her iPad fell silent……
Whenever media talking heads engage in another affirmative action skirmish, three things flash through my mind. First, my belief that Princeton University wouldn’t have accepted me if I weren’t blind. While I had solid grades and successes in music in high school, my SAT scores and grade-point average were below Ivy league standards.
The second item that springs to mind is a discussion during a team-building session between employers and college students with disabilities that I was leading.
“Let’s face…..