From: Al and Masha Sten-Clanton 
Subject: Re: ACB Washington Connection (fwd)
Harvey, thanks for your thoughtful reply to my message.  You have
a lot to offer.
 
You said of the Magoo business, Before this happened, we were one
of the few minorities that did not expect political correctness. 
I think this helped us just as in the days when most minorities
were asking for quotas and such we did not.  We simply wanted
blind people to be hired on our merits and to succeed or fail on
our own.  This also helped our cause in that we did not expect
something for nothing.  I think the real reason the Affirmative
Action proponents are loosing the gains they made is not because
of conservative court decisions or republican controlled
congresses but because it simply does not work to put an
unqualified person into a position for which they are not
qualified; it is as simple as that."
 
I doubt that many unqualified people get jobs because of
affirmative action, but less qualified people almost certainly do
in some instances.  I think some forms of affirmative action
still have a place, but quotas or even goals, lowering testing
standards, or creating separate job or school applicant pools
cause real problems.  Maybe they're the best we can do, but I
doubt it.
 
We blind folks should be mindful, however, that there is no more
blatant a form of affirmative action than the Randolph-Sheppard
program, in which, at least ordinarily, participants don't pay
their rent or utilities.  (In an article in a 1968 Monitor, Ken
Jernigan reprinted a letter he'd written to the governor of Iowa
a couple of years before.  In that letter, he justified the
program partly by comparing it to affirmative action that New
York City apparently was taking to hire more black teachers.)
Those who support expanding this program probably should avoid
being too critical of affirmative action generally.  
 
Concerning political correctness, I think Jernigan's comments
about it in a Monitor issue of a year or two ago were among the
best I've seen.  Still, you doubtless recall that NFB did battle
with Mr.  Magoo in 1975 or 1976, and for the same reasons as
we're doing it now.  This may mean either that we're inconsistent
concerning political correctness or that the absurdities to which
we can take political correctness have little to do with the
Magoo matter.  I take the second view.  I'm not about to spend a
lot of time and energy trying to eradicate Magoo from the movies,
partly because I have other things to do, partly because I don't
think we'd succeed.  This is a question of wise use of resources,
however, not of whether it would be good to have him gone.
 
Peace!
 
Al
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