Is Affirmative Action Still a Good Idea in This Era?

Wherein public safety is concerned, affirmative action is not reverse discrimination. It's lunacy. Baltimore City came under fire a few years ago because one of its fire houses had no Black firefighters. In a mostly Black area, it's an anomoly, for sure...but the fact is people line up each week to take a chance at that Mega Lottery because those numbers do, indeed, hit. Every so often that's the way the statistics fall.

In all jobs generally, but in regard to law enforcement, firefighting, EMT, nursing and medical training, etc. specifically, when I need help, I do not care what color, sex, sexual orientation or religion I see walking through the door. I want the best person who has the best chance of helping me, not the person who was given an extra 10 points on a written test to make sure things were evened out from generations long ago.

I cannot right every wrong done by societies before, and I will not take responsibility for them. I would not have been among them. I am a northerner, and I would have been an abolitionist, without a doubt. I am female, and I hope Obama outsteps Hillary. There are positions in which we must choose the absolute best, and work with those who have had less opportunity up to speed for the future. It cannot be done by sacrificing quality. In a capitalist society, in particular, the concept makes no sense.

I've always believed that women should serve in the military. If my son is sent, then your daughter should be sent as well. Then a friend of mine, a 270+ pound soldier who has seen serious combat in places you hope no loved one of yours has to go, looked at me very sincerely and said that if we were stuck in a foxhole together, my skinny behind wasn't getting him out, and he would like half a chance of coming home. I was enraged, and I started to argue with the man. I opened my mouth over and over to give him the talk about how things are equal, etc., how it didn't matter. How he was a sexist pig. But I kept looking at him, and thinking, "He's right. I wouldn't be able to drag him out of a hole unless I gnawed his arms and legs off." The fact is, I love my friend, and I want him to have the best chance he has of coming home. I'm not it. So, no women in military? I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is we need to worry more about what gets the job done and less about hurting someone's feelings wherein public safety is concerned.

I started out in sportswriting in the late '70s, and it was a male-dominated arena. People debated about whether or not female reporters should be allowed in the locker room. I feel comfortable having that sort of debate. It's not a life or death decision by any means. I can get all philosophical since it's a very different kind of discussion. No one would have literally died had I stepped inside of the men's locker room after a game. That people put public safety and other equality scenarios on the same plane is insane.

It takes on a whole different aura when you get into public service positions. Should my right to choose a career supercede someone's right to stay alive? Conversely, should I have to risk my life because a person who scored lower on the firefighter's exam got the job because there were quotas to fill?

These debates are nothing more than politcal bantering until you put it in real terms. What would YOU want if you were in a life or death decision? Would you want the person who earned a spot in a unit, or a person who was given one because "x" number of spots had to be filled by minorities and women?

It gets even more murky when you discuss college exams and scholarships. My daughter works full time and goes to school. My son works full time and goes to school full time. Both would have better chances to concentrate on their studies if they were minorities. In the long run, I think they are gaining more knowledge and wordliness (and appreciation) by doing it this way than they would if they were given large scholarships. Hard roads make you appreciate what you have, and they give you a knowledge that you will survive. To give someone special treatment because they have minority status is to say that you assume the person will be less capable. Give the person a chance to prove it, and oftentimes, he'll prove he's just as capable because he has had to work harder.