Taking Affirmative Action

When Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrived at the Grand Valley State University Fall Arts Celebration, I was unsure of what to expect. His lecture on the history of the Encyclopedia Africana, and it's creator W.E.B. DuBois was entertaining and interesting, but not what I had thought the famous professor would be lecturing on. However, during the question and answer period, I felt he made multiple insights into the world of racism, technology, and affirmative action in the present day.
While it is not fair to assume where exactly Gates stands on the subject of affirmative action based on his lecture last Wednesday, it is important to dive deeper into his recent and past quotations on the popular subject.


"'Rough magic of the cultural mix' is nation’s best hope
BY KATHLEEN O'TOOLE

...Thanks to the civil rights movement and affirmative action, he said to "the tenth," the black middle class has quadrupled since Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, but a larger proportion of black children now live below the poverty line. He urged the tenth to "stop feeling guilty about our own success" and instead "feel a commitment of service to those left behind."
Referring to African Americans as "a nation within a nation" with a population larger than that of Canada, he said, "We can't pretend any longer that 35 million people will ever possibly be exactly members of the same economic class.

"The best we can strive for is that class differentials within the African American community ­ what I call the bell curve of class ­ cease their lopsided ratios because of the pernicious nature of racial inequality." Black intellectuals who want to lead must confront "the twin realities of white racism on the one hand and our own failures to take the initiative and break the cycle of poverty on the other."

Full article link: http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/1998/october21/gates1021.html

Gates is stating above what I feel too little people take into consideration.
The United States, as well as many other nations on this planet, are lucky enough to be filled with an enormous amount of diverse and unique people. Whether it be race, language, physicality, or culture that makes us different, this diversity can enrich and enliven what sometimes turns into conformity or boringness. While not everyone may have the same views as I do on race, I think in an educational setting it is necessary to invite and educate all races equally. This equality involves affirmative action.

The 'commitment of service to those left behind' Gates speaks of is what I believe to help open doors that have remained locked unfairly for much of history. Affirmative action is not attempting to reward or make up for mistakes in the past, but is trying to change the educational and socioeconomic status for the better, and to emphasize the diverse world that we share today.