During the Democratic presidential debate last night, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb reiterated his long-held belief that modern affirmative action policies are discriminatory against whites.
In 2000, Webb allegedly described affirmative action as “state-sponsored racism that is as odious as the Jim Crow laws it sought to countermand” in a Wall Street Journal book review.
Webb defended his description of affirmative action as “state-sponsored racism” during a 2006 senate debate against Republican opponent George Allen.
Webb claimed affirmative action is a Thirteenth Amendment program; therefore, it should only apply to African Americans.
“African Americans are the only ethnic group in this country that have suffered from deliberate discrimination and exclusion by the government over generations,” Webb stated.
“When this program [affirmative action] expanded to the present-day diversity programs, where essentially every ethnic group other than Caucasians are included, then that becomes state-sponsored racism,” Webb said.
He continued, “And we should either move this program back to its original intent, which I support, or we should open up diversity programs to the point where poor white cultures and they are cultures, as in southwest Virginia have some opportunity.”
A decade after his original “state-sponsored racism” remarks, Webb penned a Wall Street Journal op-ed, titled, “Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege” addressing the issue of modern affirmative action and its negative ramifications for white Americans.
In the piece, Webb wrote:
“WASP elites have fallen by the wayside and a plethora of government-enforced diversity policies have marginalized many white workers. The time has come to cease the false arguments and allow every American the benefit of a fair chance at the future.
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Unfortunately, present-day diversity programs work against that notion [of fairness], having expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now favor anyone who does not happen to be white.
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The injustices endured by black Americans at the hands of their own government have no parallel in our history, not only during the period of slavery but also in the Jim Crow era that followed. But the extrapolation of this logic to all ‘people of color’—especially since 1965, when new immigration laws dramatically altered the demographic makeup of the U.S.—moved affirmative action away from remediation and toward discrimination, this time against whites.
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Contrary to assumptions in the law, white America is hardly a monolith. And the journey of white American cultures is so diverse (yes) that one strains to find the logic that could lump them together for the purpose of public policy.
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Policy makers ignored such disparities within America's white cultures when, in advancing minority diversity programs, they treated whites as a fungible monolith. Also lost on these policy makers were the differences in economic and educational attainment among nonwhite cultures. Thus nonwhite groups received special consideration in a wide variety of areas including business startups, academic admissions, job promotions and lucrative government contracts.”
“Where should we go from here?” Webb asked. “Beyond our continuing obligation to assist those African-Americans still in need, government-directed diversity programs should end.”
Webb stated, “Nondiscrimination laws should be applied equally among all citizens, including those who happen to be white. The need for inclusiveness in our society is undeniable and irreversible, both in our markets and in our communities. Our government should be in the business of enabling opportunity for all, not in picking winners. It can do so by ensuring that artificial distinctions such as race do not determine outcomes.”
During last night’s debate, Webb showed his position on affirmative action remains the same.
Anderson Cooper provided context about Webb’s 2006 and 2010 remarks regarding affirmative action. Cooper then asked, “Given that nearly half the Democratic Party is non-white, aren’t you out of step with where the Democratic Party is now?”
Webb responded, “No, actually I believe that I am where the Democratic Party traditionally has been. The Democratic Party, and the reason I’ve decided to run as a Democrat, has been the party that gives people who otherwise have no voice in the corridors of power a voice. And that is not determined by race.”
“And as a clarification, I have always supported affirmative action for African Americans. That’s the way the program was originally designed because of their unique history in this country, with slavery and the Jim Crow laws that followed,” Webb noted
“What I have discussed a number of times is the idea that when we create diversity programs that include everyone, quote, ‘of color,’ other than whites, struggling whites like the families in the Appalachian mountains, we’re not being true to the Democratic Party principle of elevating the level of consciousness among our people about the hardships that a lot of people who happen to be have—by culture, by the way,” Webb stated.