Common Sense From An Uncommon Man
by Frank Salvato
August/September 2003
I do pick on California a bit and quite frankly, I think they deserve it most of the time. It is a land that is mired in a social oxymoron. Millionaire elitist movie stars remonstrate causes celeb while extolling the virtues of almost socialistic issues to those who probably won’t amass a wealth equal to a year of their incomes. Elected officials spend their way into record deficits and then sit around Sacramento pointing fingers of blame at everyone but themselves. Birds get more protection than the homeless. Yes, there are many reasons I believe that we should seriously reconsider their statehood but then there comes a man who serves as an oasis of common sense among those devoid of the idea. Then there comes Ward Connerly.
Ward Connerly is a well-to-do businessman and regent at the University of California. He is black, successful and a common-sense-do-what’s-right kind of guy. So, it should come as no surprise that he is greatly disliked by many of his own race, the NAACP, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and many others. This comes as a shock to you? Really? Well let me explain why.
You see Mr. Connerly believes that if we are all to be treated equally, both in society and the work place, we need to eliminate the badge of race. He isn’t asserting that you shouldn’t be proud of who you are, your ancestry, he is simply saying that for society to become ultimately colorblind, which is what all of the Civil Rights advocates have been working for all these years, you have to remove the ability to be a racist. Makes sense, right? Mr. Connerly was the force behind Proposition 209, which prevents California state agencies from using race as a factor for college admissions, employment and contracting. He believed that if the best person for the position or job was always getting hired then it would not only benefit the company or institution but would benefit the populace in mass. It would force people to better themselves to get ahead instead of having the government constantly handing out freebies to those who would accept the status quo. In California that can be pretty common.
“You can take a position in support of racial discrimination, as long as it is racial discrimination against a white or an Asian, and you are a hero,” Mr. Connerly said. “You take a position in favor of equality of all people, and you are a villain, and you expose yourself not only to verbal abuse but the possibility of physical abuse.”
So, it would seem that people like Julian Bond, the heretic from the NAACP, aren’t very fond of Mr. Connerly and I have to say that I can definitely see why. If Mr. Connerly were to get his way and have the issue of race deleted from our societal lexicon there would be no reason for Mr. Bond to exist. Why would there be an organization for the advancement of “colored people” (say that in an inner city setting and see how fast you get your butt kicked) when everyone was playing on a level field? It would be racist to have an organization like that, right? Quite frankly, I believe the NAACP’s very existence is racist but that would make me a racist for pointing out a racist organization. I mean really, if they aren’t racist and discriminatory how come they don’t condone the advancement of those colored pink or pasty white? The simple fact is organizations such as the NAACP and MALDEF, are entitlement organizations who scream racism from the tops of their lungs while very efficiently feeding off of the public tax trough. They tend to use extortion tactics such as the NAACP did in Miami against the Democratic presidential candidates who didn’t show up to pay homage or the way Rainbow/PUSH extorted silence money from NASCAR. They haven’t really championed any program that would lead to effective equality during their existences because they have been consumed by the very political machines they once railed against. Mr. Connerly sees this and he believes that it is wrong for entire races of people to be so terribly enabled; to be handicapped by mediocrity.
Now comes an effort by Mr. Connerly to move the issue of racial erasure forward once again. Mr. Connerly is promoting an initiative that would ban the gathering of racial data in the State of California for use in classifying current or prospective students, contractors or employees in public education, contracting and employment operations. Organizations that oppose Mr. Connerly’s train of thought complain that it would essentially ban the gathering of information on critical matters such as Latino birthrates and American-African academic achievement and that may very well be. But it should be pointed out that more often than not, studies and statistics such as those are used to promote more programs that are targeted to racially divided groups. If American-African academic achievement is low then the NAACP will scream for more funds to help those poor underachieving students do better when all they really have to do is to stay out of the bars, away from the parties, off of the basketball courts and instead crack a book or two in an effort to learn. If Latino birthrates go up then MALDEF starts to scream that more money should come their way so that they can defend the rights of those who have none due to the fact that they aren’t US citizens. It is all special interest. It is all divisive. It is all very much racist.
Mr. Connerly has the right idea. A colorblind society would be the best thing for this nation and quite frankly, the world. It is quite a far way off but it will never be achieved if one foot isn’t put in front of the other on the path towards this goal. Organizations like the NAACP and MALDEF, while born of valiant intentions at their inceptions have lost their way on a path that bordered good and evil. They have strayed to the evil side and have become exactly what they initially fought against; greedy political machines that extort tax money for the advancement of the few over the greater good for all.
Besides, if all of the data that these studies, and all other society based statistical studies use had to come from the occasional US Census perhaps people would take it a bit more seriously.
Racial erasure: a colorblind nation for the greater good. Good job Mr. Connerly.
Frank Salvato is a political media consultant, a freelance writer from the Midwest and the Managing Editor for www.TheRant.us. He is a contributing writer to The Washington Dispatch. He has appeared as a guest panelist on The O’Reilly Factor and his pieces are featured at OpinionEditorials.com, and Townhall.com. He can be contacted at
Copyright © 2003 Frank Salvato and The Multiracial Activist. All rights reserved.