Framingham, Mass., just appointed Deputy Fire Chief Ollie Gadson to be the new fire chief. The town leaders and Chief Gadson say this appointment was based on merit alone, as do others quoted in the article.
Selectman Esther Hopkins, who is also black, said Gadson’s promotion was well deserved.
“I’m especially pleased this is not based on affirmative action,” said Hopkins. “Sometimes when a person of color gets something, people say that’s why.
There must be people saying that in Framingham, or there would be no article full of quotes denying it.
How sad and yet how typical. Insofar as affirmative action is responsible for Chief Gadson’s appointment, it has tarnished his accomplishment. If it is not responsible, it has still tarnished his accomplishment. But if it is not responsible, what is it good for?
Meanwhile, in what strikes me as an attempt to put out a fire by spreading gasoline on it,
Human Resources Director Robert Joy continues working on a new affirmative action policy, saying he will present it to selectmen later this year. He has defended the town’s record, as has Town Manager George King.
Thus in the future there will no doubt be more qualified, deserving black appointees … who will have to deny that their success is due to affirmative action.
this represents, in a nutshell, the tragedy of almost all social engineering: it’s not so much that tremendous financial resources are wasted (they are) but rather that a similar amount of humans ones must forever confront the implicit “well, he only maded it because” assumption, & lose a good bit of personal dignity in the process.
endlessly sad.
Could it be that the promotion is not generally asserted to be based on affirmative action because the promotee is not conservative? If a minority group member is conservative, their achievement or position is always solely based on AA (e.g. Clarnce Thomas).