Kerry’s little fling as an affirmative action critic

According to David Brooks in the January 23, 2004 New York Times, John Kerry said about affirmative action in a 1992 speech that

it was time to acknowledge the costs. The civil rights movement, he said, was once a “mighty battle between good and evil,” but now the “civil rights arena is controlled by lawyers, [with] the winners and losers determined by rules most Americans neither understand nor are sympathetic with.”

Affirmative action, he argued, “has kept America thinking in racial terms.” It has helped foster a “culture of dependency.” Further, he said, “there exists a reality of reverse discrimination that actually engenders racism.”

Pretty surprising stuff, coming from a politician whose entire career has been one long rehearsal of left-liberal orthodoxy. Needless to say, Kerry’s foray into neo-liberal heterodoxy had no follow-through, and he soon returned to the fold. At the website of his presidential campaign, under the heading “Preserve Affirmative Action,” we are told:

John Kerry believes in an America where we take common sense steps to ensure that our schools and workplaces reflect the full face of America. He has consistently opposed efforts in the Senate to undermine or eliminate affirmative action programs and supports programs that seek to enhance diversity, for example, by fostering the growth of minority small businesses.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 25, 2004 11:25 PM | Send