"Remedies for American Intolerance"

"Remedies for American Intolerance"

Like Crisp's article, Emily Laura Pitt also writes in the context of the David Duke election race and the conservative political backlash against affirmative action. However, Pitt's article is a passionate defense of affirmative action and denial that affirmative action would lead to hiring quotas for minorities. Pitt argues that affirmative action is needed in order to combat historic inequalities in access to education and job opportunities for minorities. She argues that racism is embedded into the very structure of society and therefore measures like affirmative action are necessary to combat deeply ingrained discrimination. The rest of the article is a passionate plea for the teaching of alternative history and philosophy in American universities and the break-down of Euro-centric modes of thinking.

Emily Laura Pitt

Emily Laura Pitt, "Remedies for American Intolerance," The Technician vol. LXXIII no. 40 (November 25, 1991): 6

1991-11-25

Cheryl Dong

newspaper article

The David Duke campaign, the Bush inspired quota scare, and of course, the ever popular “anti-PC” movement compromise the current backlash against enlightened thinking. These three seemingly separate events are actually inter-connected in what I call the Great Intolerance Movement.

The KKK’s David Duke may no longer be the Head Honcho of Hatred, but a man his age rarely does a complete attitudinal turnaround. Since it is no longer fashionable to be outwardly racist, he filled the heads of Louisiana voters with hatred in a more subtle way. Although he lost the election it is still frightening that plenty of folks jumped on the bandwagon of intolerance by voting for him.

Next, a word that we will hear a lot of in 1992--quota. Affirmative action does not imply quotas. It does imply equal opportunity for those against whom society discriminates. Discrimination is institutionalized and thus ingrained in the consciences of the larger society. As a result, employers are not always able to hire solely on the basis of merit, and considerable weight should be placed on hiring qualified minorities. Helms and Bush, however, would have us believe that the liberals want to take jobs away from all white males and give them to minorities.

newspaper article