Californian iafrica.com reader Mariah Lichtenstern Walebowa raises some valid points in her perspective on Trevor Tutu's condemnation of Affirmative Action. Her letter follows:

I am writing from the United States. In California, my home state, Affirmative Action was abolished in all public sectors in 1997, the year I entered college at UC Berkeley. With minors in African and Ethnic Studies, and plenty of experience with racism, I have something to say.

Today, post AA, UC Berkeley's black population has dropped to less than three percent although there are plenty of qualified black applicants who exceed the entry criteria in both standardized test scores and grade point average. The admittance among Asians has soared 6.2 percent, bringing the overall Asian population to over 40 percent, although Asians constitute about three percent of the population in society.

Take note that the Brown University article referenced below points out that, across the races, males are negatively affected these days by bans on affirmative actions, while Asians benefit tremendously. This just goes to show how much women have achieved with AA. They now perform better than their male counterparts (perhaps that is the fear of people like De Klerk in your country).

Do you know that here in America, college educated blacks are still the last hired and first fired? Unemployment among this demographic more than doubled from 2.7 percent in 2007 to 7.2 percent in 2009, while for whites the number went from 1.6 to 3.8 percent, Hispanics went from 1.7 to 5 percent and Asians from 2.5 to 5 percent (Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from Black Enterprise Magazine, July 2009).

Women also suffer

Women have also been disproportionally hit. When layoffs come around, the good old boys still keep the people who are most like them around. That is simply not fair. Surely it would be worse if AA had not opened the doors it has and forced people to recognize the humanity and competence that people have as individuals - doors that would have been locked otherwise.

I should point out that the statistics quoted on your website about Affirmative Action are incorrect, and the source should be cited. If I am not mistaken, that study was based on only 500 people (who knows where they came from) and not empirical. Furthermore, that study showed that more than 80 percent of blacks, those who experience the day to day consequences of residual racism, believe AA is still necessary.

Being a black woman with graduate level education, I can testify to the hardship I have experienced -and furthermore, the disdain I get from people who resent what I have achieved despite the odds. It is a constant battle-I had to fight so hard - including 3 unfair grade appeals, ultimately decided in my favour, just to graduate from UC Berkeley. This is all without the environmental, societal, and economic privileges of the white counterparts I went to school with (whose parents went to college, could afford to subsidize their living expenses, and who owned their own personal computers, etc.). Yet, I have attended some of the most prestigious universities in the country, received excellent grades overall, and my work ethic and results are excellent. I have had to start my own business just to compete and earn a living - what most immigrants have to do when they come here (fortunately is is often to their advantage).

Today, as I sit in all these government sponsored business meetings, the fact that Black business owners are underutilized in government contracts , respective to their availability and listing in databases, is constantly reiterated. Asians and Hispanics, however, are not underutilized. Why is this? Because people choose not to work with black companies if they do not have to, even companies who have excellent track records and references. That is reflective of the standard preferential treatment that favors whites and those who look like them. This continues today in American, a country that, against all odds, elected a man of mixed ethnic heritage to run our country - but only out of desperation.

It is easy for whites

It is easy for whites to speak against AA. Of mixed ancestry, my mother is white, and she does not even recognize her own prejudices. Although she benefitted from Affirmative Action (white women being the largest beneficiaries in the areas of both education and employment), she never has experienced the kind of discrimination I have faced my whole life in housing, social interactions, promotions, education, and employment. Yet she claims to know what it is like to be black because she has black children. This is nonsensical and reflective of a culture of denial, repressed guilt, and continued oppression. I am dissappointed to hear that Mr. Tutu is appealing to a white constituency in much the same way as American, Ward Connerly, as a "token" black minstrel.

Affirmative Action is merely a patch-up, not a cure, for the residual affects of racism. Nevertheless, it forces the resistant to interact with other ethnic groups, desensitizing them, and exposing them to people as individuals, and not just groups. This is part of the healing process. To say that AA puts whites at a disadvantage is ridiculous. Most fail to acknowledge the inherent advantage they live with. It is a disadvantage to expect an oppressed population to close the disparity gap in a system that is set up for their failure.

One cannot demonstrate their own merits if they are looked over. The fact is that admissions that and hiring practices should mirror the demographics of the society we live in, and this can be done without affecting quality performance. We have to work and learn with all people, and when bad behavior has been tolerated, it takes corrective action and sometimes, appropriate restitution to remedy the problem. There is no such thing as "reverse discrimination." Discrimination is discrimination, and restitution is restitution.

Mariah Lichtenstern-Walebowa
Sacramento, California, USA
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