Moving briskly on their P.O.'d White Guys agenda, Congress's radical Republicans have started beating on affirmative action policies that hold once-closed doors open to capable minority businesses, students and job applicants.
The GOP rads took target practice the other day when a program that helps minorities buy into radio and TV franchises came into legislative view. That particular program was flawed, but the flaw hardly explained the unseemly relish with which the representatives voted to kill it.There's a huge cultural gap on this matter, and white insensitivity to it threatens to make the nation's already dangerous racial tensions even more explosive.
For many white folks, affirmative action is just one more political football, to be kicked around neither more nor less than any other. For most black folks, affirmative action is a survival issue, one that goes to the very heart of the community's well-being and promise.
Tom Teepen
Cox News Service