WASHINGTON -- "A minority of mean-spirited politicians and demagogues" have redefined the meaning of civil rights, equality and dignity, warns Julian Bond, chairman of the civil rights group National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The answer, he says, is to help the NAACP "with media, organizing, voter registration, litigation, mobilization and coalition building."
Of course, Bond is upset because most Americans believe civil rights mean the equality of all people before the law. Bond and his allies, in contrast, exploit persistent feelings of white guilt to maintain an expansive racial spoils system.
Preferences, like so-called affirmative action more generally, are designed to deliver educational opportunities, government contracts and choice jobs to members of particular groups, irrespective of their personal backgrounds, characteristics or qualifications. The abuse of such systems is evident in the court case Grutter vs. Bollinger.