THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 4, 1995 TAG: 9506020750
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
A community conversation
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 208 lines
Mark Jaworowski's family came to the United States from Poland. As European Jews, the Jaworowskis knew the face of prejudice.
Rick Diaz remembers being thrust into American schools as a child, speaking only Spanish, feeling lost.
Both men, the children of immigrants, became successful professionals in America. Both feel they have been discriminated against.
Yet they disagree passionately about how Americans should redress the wrongs of discrimination. Mark believes affirmative action cost him a potential job with the FBI. Rick believes the existing programs aren't enforced and don't go far enough.
Their respective stories illustrate how the furious battles over affirmative action - in Washington, D.C., California and elsewhere - take their heat from deep, volcanic springs in the American psyche.
Race, sex, opportunity, fairness, the contributions of immigrants - affirmative action is about many of the issues that Americans take pride in and struggle over.
In the experiment of our common history, the nation drew together diverse races and ethnic groups, enslaved one group and subjugated others, then expected them to live in harmony, without prejudice. They were legally declared equal.
The question that drives the debate over affirmative action is: How well has that experiment succeeded?
Those who oppose affirmative action tend to believe the nation has removed most barriers for talented, ambitious individuals. The solution, they feel, is to enforce laws against discrimination.
``How do you get rid of 300 years of discrimination?'' asked Diaz, a 51-year-old Virginia Beach businessman who sells restaurant equipment, during one of two discussions of affirmative action sponsored recently by The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
``I'm Jewish,'' replied Jaworowski, 40, of Virginia Beach. ``How do you get rid of 2,000 years of discrimination? You work hard.''
Those who support affirmative action, or believe it should be expanded, tend to think that the national experiment, if not a failure, at least still needs a helping hand from the government. Prejudice, they maintain, keeps many talented minorities from advancing.
``Hopefully, I will be judged on merit,'' said Nathan Harris, a recent graduate of Old Dominion University. But, he said, ``As long as you've got these country clubs that are separated, only for white males . . . I fear that. Because those people on the golf courses plan where they stand. `We don't need these people of color coming into this place.'
``And the same thing that happens on the golf course, happens in the job market and the universities.''
The deep and varied feelings expressed by these citizens are also reflected in the population of Hampton Roads, according to a poll of 416 adults conducted in May by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research.
In the poll, 56 percent of all men surveyed said job discrimination against minorities was ``somewhat serious'' or ``very serious,'' compared with 69 percent for women and 82 percent for African Americans.
Respondents had cautious, uniform support for affirmative action. In answering whether they would favor hiring a minority applicant over an equally qualified white applicant, 60 percent said they would. Among whites, 56 percent said they would, and 69 percent of all black respondents said they agreed.
The discussion among citizens often revolves around fear, self-reliance and individual merit, and the role of the ``angry white male.''
``You're saying that you're a victim of this white conspiracy out there that is doing these awful things to you,'' said Bill Stevens, 63, of Norfolk, retired from the Navy. ``I'm saying to myself, I got up in the morning, I went to work, I did what I was supposed to do, I was reasonably decent to everybody I came into contact with - so help me God. . . . And I say, wait a minute - I didn't do a damn thing and you're going to be taking away my opportunities?''
Stevens, Jaworowski and others, children of immigrants, hold up the ``American Dream'' - play fair, be honest, work very hard, and you can succeed. The essence of democracy, they argue, is that every person stands on his or her own merit, not parents' name, or a title, or race.
To them, affirmative action questions and undermines that ideal. If America isn't founded on self-reliance, they ask, what are its principles?
There's nothing wrong with self-reliance, said Diaz, who built up his own business. It just seems to work better for white people than others.
``About one-third of the population of the United States is people of color,'' Diaz said. ``It has been looked at very carefully, and it was determined that people of color did not own too many businesses.''
Linda Brown, a junior at Virginia Wesleyan, said, ``Affirmative action is an attempt to implement what the fathers wanted with social mobility, where everybody everywhere had the equal opportunity in our society to get to where they wanted to go. But they had to have the desire to get there.''
Jeannette Bacs, 50, of Virginia Beach, said it's easy to forget that prejudice isn't just about black and white, but about men and women, too. White men don't know about prejudice because they don't experience it, she said.
``The government has not got long enough arms to reach into the private sector,'' she said.
``I have been to parties that make Tailhook look like a Sunday picnic. But you can believe one thing: Pat your butt, pinch your boob, throw you in the pool, you're not going to open your mouth. Because then you are unemployed, you are out, that's it, and the government is going to do nada.''
That was echoed by Virginia Wesleyan student Melissa Fanney, who has three children: ``There is a glass ceiling that women cannot rise above in a lot of corporations. . . . Women are looked at differently because they bear children.
``I don't know how many times people say to me, `Gosh, I can't believe you have three children and you go to college. Oh, you're amazing.' No one says to my husband, `Wow, you have three children and you work. That's amaz-ing.' ''
The participants in these discussions generally agreed that discrimination is wrong and ought to be prosecuted or prevented. But when it came to making up for past discrimination, they split sharply.
Preston Turpin, a retired executive, said discrimination began after the Civil War ended in 1865: ``You had the carpetbaggers, the Yankees, and you had the scalawag Southerners. . . . We did not fulfill our obligation to assist people. And it keeps adding up.''
Stevens said, ``My people weren't even here in 1865. I claim no responsibility for what happened in 1865. My people came over around the turn of the century.''
Jaworowski said, ``You're taking all white men and lumping them all together and saying, tough luck! . . . Why should I bear the so-called burden? I don't understand that concept that you're talking about, the burdens of the past? I really don't.''
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The question of discrimination is sometimes expressed in the idea of a ``level playing field'' - in other words, whether there is equal opportunity for everyone.
Opponents of affirmative action tend to criticize it as upsetting the playing field. They argue that there already is equal opportunity, and that the government should not upset that balance.
Affirmative action supporters say the level playing field is a myth, that opportunity is affected by money, sex and family ties as well as race. Many forces tilt the playing field, they argue, so the effect of affirmative action isn't making things any worse.
``I don't see people getting too upset when someone who has money gets into law school because he knows someone,'' said James Wilcox, a graduate student at Norfolk State University. ``We harp on people who don't have money, and they get in, and they're keeping others from getting in. I just see a lot of people going after the poor.''
Still, some insist, that doesn't make it right for the government to sanction another kind of discrimination. ``I'm a little bit nervous about something here,'' said Regent University law student Rodd Rodriguez. ``I just remember my mother telling me, `Johnny hit you, you hit him back. Johnny did wrong. But two wrongs don't make a right.' And that's what I see when I look at affirmative action.''
The debate over affirmative action does not stand alone in many people's minds, but is tied into education and immigration - nothing less than the course of the nation's future.
``The standards have come down in our laws; the standards have come down in everything,'' said Helen Wheeler of Virginia Beach. ``In your neighborhood, you're not free to walk the streets. . . . Why can't we just be Americans and remember our ethnic upbringing, remember our religions and respect one another?
``What's going to be here if we don't all work together? And make it better? And make it truly equal?''
Yet there is a common ground in this sometimes-bitter battle, and as with so many issues, it comes back to education.
If grade schools are grossly unequal, students can't be expected to have the same shot at going to college or getting a job. That was heard from college students and adults alike.
``We have to realize, too, through the education . . . that it's not equal,'' said Wilcox. ``If you're living in suburbia where the average income is above $50,000, then that tax base is going to take care of that particular school. But when you're in an inner city and you're not making that much, then that tax base has to take care of that school, and we find out there's a lack.''
Wheeler said, ``The schools in each neighborhood need to be all the same. They need to have the same facilities, the same structure and the same demands made on the students. They should try for excellence.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Rodd Rodriguez
Nathan Harris
James Wilcox
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff photos
Bill Stevens
Rick Diaz
Linda Brown
Jeannette Bacs
Melissa Fanney
Preston Turpin
Mark Jaworowski
Helen Wheeler
Participants in a community conversation sponsored by The
Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star found some common ground amid
sharp differences on the practice of affirmative action and its
effects.
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