The debate was moderated by political science Professor John Tomasi, who said that the debate was not only about affirmative action but also about the character of Brown
Hundreds from the Brown community waited for an hour in the rain Nov. 8 for the chance to see Dinesh D'Souza and Frank Wu debate the issue of affirmative action. Almost half of those who came were turned away because the 450-seat space in Andrews Dining Hall was too small to accommodate everyone. Protesters walked along the line chanting "We don't want D'Souza" and distributing literature headed "No Free Speech for Hate-Mongers!" The handout contained quotations from D'Souza's book "The End of Racism," such as "What blacks need to do is to `act white,' which is to say abandon idiotic Back-To-Africa schemes and embrace mainstream cultural norms, so that they can effectively compete with other groups."
Despite the protesters outside, the audience was quiet and respectful once the program started. The debate was moderated by political science Professor John Tomasi. In his introductory remarks, Tomasi stated that the debate was not only about affirmative action but also about the character of Brown, and that true character consists of having the courage to question one's own opinions and to listen to opponents with an open mind.
D'Souza, an analyst with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, spoke first. He courted the audience by welcoming the protesters and peppering his speech with jokes. He said that he supports a colorblind society and that affirmative action is racist because it hurts whites who are rejected by a university or for a job when less qualified minorities are accepted. D'Souza said that giving blacks preferential treatment because of past discrimination is like responding to having your foot run over by a car by charging every subsequent car 25 cents.
In another analogy which he used many times, D'Souza likened affirmative action to a race in which some competitors start ahead of others and said that in a fair race everyone starts at the same place even though some participants "might have a NordicTrack in their basement" and thus be better prepared. According to D'Souza, equality of opportunity does not lead to equality of outcomes "because of merit."
D'Souza stated that in any measure of merit, Asians will score highest, blacks lowest, and whites in the middle. He argued that this is not due to socioeconomic differences between blacks and whites because "poor whites do better that rich blacks." Affirmative action for less-qualified blacks is, according to D'Souza, like allowing whites who are poor shooters to play professional basketball. D'Souza attributes the better performance of whites and Asians to "cultural differences" and said that Asians do better in school because they study harder. He cited the greater number of single-parent families among blacks as one reason why blacks do poorly.
D'Souza "would have us abolish not just affirmative action laws, but all anti-discrimination laws," said Wu, a law professor at Howard University. "He's waging an all-out attack on civil rights and all of its accomplishments."
Diversity is a good in itself, Wu noted, and affirmative action is a means to that end. He cited the U.S. military as a successful example where affirmative action benefits all workers. In reply to D'Souza's claim that preferential hiring hurts whites as much as blacks were hurt by past racism, Wu pointed out that the burden of affirmative action is evenly distributed among all applicants. "Affirmative action is good because it acknowledges the guilt that we all share," Wu said. Whites and others would still have a chance to be hired, whereas past discrimination gave blacks no chance at all.
Millie Niss is a free-lance writer.