These attitudes remind me of a piece of mail I received after a recent appearance on C-SPAN. During my segment, I noted that the Congressional Black Caucus Brain Trusts did not get the kind of media coverage that it deserved. The irate viewer wrote. "You are an American, stop talking all this Black stuff. It makes white people like me angry." I am not sure why mention of the word "Black" makes white people angry, but African-American people will not disappear because we are not mentioned. But Proposition 209 seems an attempt to erode the labor market status of people of color and women to, in effect, make us disappear.
California isn't the only state where ballot measures and legislative initiatives like Proposition 209 are being discussed, and in many workplaces people have agreed to disagree about affirmative action, to talk about sports and the weather at the water cooler. But because the campus is part of the battleground in the affirmative action issue, it is difficult for marry to contain their passions on either side of Proposition 209. Some discussions, though, add more heat than light and make light of the concept of collegiality.
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