By Art Torres, Clark Lee and Carlos Orellana
As America takes time to celebrate the life and work of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. this month and as we recognize the
contributions of blacks during Black History Month, the national
and California Republican Party choose to dismantle affirmative
action and continue its outbursts of racial insensitivity.
Sadly, when we honor King’s dream that “one day
“¦ the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave
owners will be able to sit down together at a table of
brotherhood,” President Bush and California
Republicans’ words and actions only tarnish this noble ideal
and affirm a record of utter failure in supporting diversity and
civil rights, as we can see in many examples.
First, Republican Congressman Howard Coble, R-N.C., suggested
Japanese Americans were interned during World War II for their own
protection.
In the face of opposition from four moderate Republican U.S.
Senators, George Bush unleashed the power of the presidency to
oppose equal opportunity in higher education by asking the Supreme
Court to rule the University of Michigan Law School’s
affirmative action program unconstitutional.
Randy Ridgel, a member of the California Republican
Party’s board of directors, said “there would have been
an upside to a Confederate victory in the Civil War.”
And lastly, University of California Regent Ward Connerly said
recently that “supporting segregation need not be
racist” during an interview surrounding former Senate
Majority Leader Trent Lott.
We are deeply saddened and disheartened that the UCLA Bruin
Republicans chose to mimic the extreme views of their right-wing
Republican leaders. Unfortunately, this activity is consistent with
the Republican right’s tactics to engage in race-based
political discourse. It is also their campaign modus operandi as
evidenced by the use of the Confederate flag during last
November’s election, the scapegoating of Latino and Asian
immigrants through the sponsorship of Proposition 187 and the
infamous Willie Horton ad by George Bush Sr.’s 1988
presidential campaign.
Where is the outrage from the California Republican members of
Congress, State Senate and Assembly to publicly repudiate Ridgel
and Connerly’s remarks and oppose the White House’s
assault on an affirmative action program that does no harm to
higher education?
Their silence can only be interpreted as the Republican
Party’s tacit opposition to civil rights and its refusal to
recognize that racism is no longer acceptable in American political
culture. It is also an indication that the worst of the Republican
rhetoric on cultural and racial diversity is yet to come.
What we are not hearing from Republicans is how to make
King’s dream a reality. Let us engage in structuring our
society on his principles of non-violence and create new
possibilities in human relations, in economics, in governance, in
politics and in all areas of endeavor.
Democrats stand ready to usher in a new era of dignity by making
peace and prosperity work for all of us.
Torres is the chairman of the California Democratic Party; Lee
is the western region director of the College Democrats of America,
and Orellana is the president of the Democratic Law Students
Association at UCLA.