White Affirmative Action

Until the 1960s, "white affirmative action" was tantamount to society. People simply chose whites over blacks almost universally.

Redlining was a practice in the early 20th century where the government and banks drew red lines where black people lived and refused to give loans to anyone within those lines. This is one such example of white affirmative action. A bank had two equally qualified applicants and chose the white one over the black one. Classic affirmative action. Clearly, there are innumerable factors at work forming the present state of society. Because it is impossible to take all of these factors into account, I will attempt to show how pernicious redlining was by looking at this practice in a vacuum.

A look into the effects of a simple initial advantage given to A over B propagated over time shows how powerful initial advantages can be.

Imagine 2 different widget makers in 1900 in the same city; A and B. The government and a bank decide to give A money to help grow its business and do not give the same money to B. A can now afford to expand and reach out to new customers. A can buy the new widget machine it needs and this grows their production, creating economies of scale. B remains small because it can only spend its revenues. It has to wait 5 years to make the money it takes to buy the new widget machine. In this 5 years, A has expanded to sell its widgets outside of its original area. It makes multiple times more money than B.

A becomes well known in the community because of its business success. This provides it political connections, only helping it grow its business even further. A’s owners, and many like A, take their considerable resources and move to the suburbs. Their tax dollars go with them. They no longer purchase products in the city. This reduces the already small customer base for B and businesses like B. Schools are funded by property taxes. Higher property values lead to more school revenue, ultimately leading to better schools. Family A receives a far better education and grows up around successful role models. B's family grows up around other less educated, poor people.

15 years pass. Patriarchs of A and B grow old and want to pass control of their business to their kin. The kids need to go to college. A has plenty of money to pay for college because of its business success (far better schools don’t hurt much either). B did all it could to survive, competing with larger A, so it is operating on a shoestring budget. Expensive college is not an option. A's kin goes to college to study business, also developing a social network of successful business types. B's do not. This creates many business advantages for A.

A accumulates more wealth than B over time. Patriarchs A and B die. A leaves more wealth to its kin. A's descendants begin life with more advantages than B's. A's kin can go to summer camp, play musical instruments, travel, hire tutors, etc. B's cannot.

A's community continues to develop economically, while B's remains stagnant at best, depressing more likely. Poverty begets crime. The community leaders think an austere approach to crime is the most appropriate, rather than a look at the underlying problems leading to poverty that lead to crime. They increase police presence in B's community and arrest members of the community at disproportionate rates compared to A's community. Many of the males go to prison, reducing their ability to work. This dulls the economic vibrance of the community even more. They get out of jail and are unable to find work because of their criminal record. They resort to more crime.

This example in a vacuum shows what can happen over time by giving a single advantage to one over another. And this was entirely without race being a factor. Now think of the above scenario where A is white and B is black (You already made that connection while reading it. See how subconscious racial classification works?). Now think of not one single advantage, but a whole society of advantages given to A over B. Hence several hundred years of affirmative action for middle to upper-class Caucasians, leading to where we are today.

I wish those against affirmative action for minorities would think about this practice of affirmative action for people of the majority for hundreds of years. That practice, as the above showed, led to hugely disparate levels of income, education, crime, social status, etc.

Many say, "I didn't do anything to hurt anyone." You are absolutely correct. You personally did not do anything and I understand it is difficult to feel you have to pay a penance when you did nothing wrong. But affirmative action is not about you or the individual. It is about looking at present society and attempting to figure out through TEMPORARY measures the best way to ameliorate historical disparities while making sure the future does not follow the same path.

Affirmative action for minorities is thereby a rudder that attempts to gently nudge the USS America away from the maelstrom and toward more placid waters. As soon as we are on that course, we can stop trying to steer.

Roll Up Vol. 11

Some of us geezers don't like this new Drake, Kid Cudi, Kanye weirdo rap movement. We prefer banal lyrics on top of beats that make our bones shake. Call it tired, played out, whatever; it is still the best music to roll up to.

Volume 11

1 - Yung Joc - Universal Language feat. Young Vett & Shawty Lo
2 - Lil Boosie - Top Notch feat. Mouse & Lil Phat
3 - Yo Gotti - I Be Like feat. Attitude
4 - Cam'Ron - Arab Musik feat. Vado & Byrd Lady
5 - Twista - American Gangsta
6 - Yung Joc - Birds feat. Nikki Minaj, Gucci Mane & OJ Da Juiceman
7 - Ace Hood - Loco Wit feat. Yo Gotti & Young Dro
8 - Joe Budden - We Outta Here feat. Slaughterhouse
9 - Yung Joc - Counterfit feat. Tuck
10 - Raekwon - Broken Safety feat. Jadakiss & Styles P
11 - Tum Tum - I Can't Starve feat. Lil Ronnie
12 - 50 Cent - Ok, Ya Right
13 - Raekwon - Black Mozart feat. RZA & Inspectah Deck
14 - Joe Budden - Blood on the Wall
15 - Cam'Ron - Ric Flair feat. Vado
16 - TI - King on Set feat. Young Dro