More Jim Crow Nonsense

Not only are most affirmative-action programs - by definition - racist, but they never quite work the way they were intended.

FOR THE PAST four years, a city affirmative-action program designed to aid female and minority entrepreneurs has helped a firm called Philly-Wide Interiors win hundreds of thousand of dollars in public contracts.

Philly-Wide was certified by the Minority Business Enterprise Council as a woman-owned firm, enabling it to win the portion of city contracts set aside for women and minority-owned firms. But public records, including the company's state business registration, point to a politically connected white man as the actual force behind Philly-Wide.

In addition, a Chicago Tribune article found that "a significant factor” in the deaths at a recent fire there could be traced to bad decisions by firefighters, whose promotions “have been driven by raw patronage, ethnic politics, City Hall clout or affirmative action.” The Chicago commission makes a “provocative proposal” that top firefighter posts “be filled on the basis of testing and merit.” Testing and merit? Now there's an idea.