Time to let go

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat

It's over in Arizona, the complaints go. The anti-affirmative action Senate Concurrent Resolution 1005 died an ugly death, so why rehash it all? And so on.

But this is not an apology.

Now more than ever, we must push to topple affirmative action in America.

Affirmative action was America's Communist Manifesto for race relations.

Under the communist manifesto, the government tried to heal scars brought on by centuries of oppression of laborers by re-distributing wealth.

Give the oppressed a "level playing field," so to speak.

This mechanism of government-directed re-distribution was known as communism and it was a transitory state along the way to socialism, when the people could fend for themselves without government-controlled re-distribution.

Communism was supposed to fall away once it had served it's purpose.

Now take affirmative action.

America's power elite rose high on the backs of slave laborers from Africa who tilled the earth and brought wealth to a young nation, and of slave laborors from Asia who laid the railroads ties that brought the land into a new era of wealth and connection.

America, whose beautiful bounteous acres that house the world's most powerful people were garnered from the dispossesion of aborigines, both Mexican and so-called "Indian."

And, through discrimination, the power elite kept hold of power over minorities, withholding opportunities and stripping minorities of self-identity and pride.

We've all heard the stories. And then in the '60s we had our own revolution and the manifesto was affirmative action. Some of the opportunities were re-distributed.

Only affirmative action has one critical difference from communism that has made it successful rather than the sad flop that communism has come to be. Affirmative action gave opportunity, not wealth. We still had to work ourselves and strive. And it is in striving that we grow stronger.

And that's what minorities needed after centuries of having their pride and peoplehood quashed- strength.

We accepted affirmative action as a scarred and beaten creature accepts time to heal, to gain back its natural strength. We swallowed a lot to do that Q we swallowed our pride.

Affirmative action says we are not good enough. Affirmative action says we need special help.

And at the time we did, to mend the wounds of years of inequity.

Affirmative action was a bandage.

And we healed under it-minorities and oppressors alike we healed.

But now the bandages chafe, they bind us. They keep us thinking we are not good enough without specail privileges. It's time to remove the bandages, cast away the crutches and stand strong in our pride.

You see, affirmative action is an imperfect means to a better time, a time of renewed strength, of moving forward. It was never supposed to stay forever, it was supposed to fall away once we had reached the point where we had strength enough to stand on our own as proud, strong people.

That time is now.

That's why we see affirmative action crumbling about us, trying to fall away. In some places it's fallen and we point to it fearfully and say see, see how the rates of minority college admissions are dropping there?

We are fearful as any person who has had a cast for awhile is fearful of taking the first step on new legs. Sure there will be a totter at first, you've coddled the leg and it must strengthen and grow used to standing strong on its own.

It's frightening as any move forward into something new is frightening.

But if we do not remove the bandage, cast away the crumbling, obsolete prosthesis and stride on our own strength we will never see how we are as a proud, strong people healed.