Virginia Senator Jim Webb Calls For End To Government Diversity Programs: They've 'Marginalized' White Workers

RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia Sen. Jim Webb is calling for an end to government-run diversity programs, saying they've only disadvantaged poor whites and hurt the cause of racial harmony.

In a column that appeared in Friday's Wall Street Journal, Webb argues that diversity programs have "marginalized many white workers."

He argues that the programs now give an edge to new immigrants over similarly situated whites, and slight black Americans who were their original beneficiaries.

Webb spokeswoman Jessica Smith said the senator feels the column speaks for itself and would not comment on it.

The issue of ethnicity helped Webb win his seat in 2006 when Republican Sen. George Allen called a Webb aide of Indian descent "macaca," a slur in some cultures.

From Webb's Wall Street Journal editorial:

"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."

[...]

"In an odd historical twist that all Americans see but few can understand, many programs allow recently arrived immigrants to move ahead of similarly situated whites whose families have been in the country for generations. These programs have damaged racial harmony. And the more they have grown, the less they have actually helped African-Americans, the intended beneficiaries of affirmative action as it was originally conceived."

Comments

[AmyInNH]

12:57 PM on 08/06/2010

What happened to the hiring criteria - hire the best qualified? When was this usurped for making every workplace a United Nations instead of productive and competitive?

[SoCalNick]

09:40 AM on 07/31/2010

I was digging through the board and found this little Gem.................

caffeineod on Jul 25, 2010 at 02:08:21
“You apparently do not live in California where the opposite is true..However, I agree white collar criminals are mostly white and they can afford the best attorneys,.I don't see many white people killing others as often as minorities kill in Los Angeles..sure, there are some and serial killers are usually white, but they end up in prison.., but such thinking is not beneficial to anyone, including those you defend....as for "for profit"jails, the jailers don't decide who and what is guilty of a crime ..In LA County, Latinos are a huge portion of the 14 million people and the numbers in our jails reflect that....if you don't commit a crime, the chances of going to jail are slim....

THIS my friends is the EXACT Mindset that is killing this country. FIRST This poster assumed Incorrectly that the person did not live here in CA (WRONG) Then spouted all of the HEAD in the SAND things the MEDIA has taught him in his sheltered life. The Media Owns this poster and as wise as he thinks he is he doesn't get it. He STILL believes , if it isn't on the news it didn't happen. And BILLIONS are not made in for profit prisons.

WAKE UP

That is all

[instantwire]

07:07 PM on 07/30/2010

Ok, before i was troll sprayed away.. let me explain about the Sammy Sosa thing of my comments below....

Black and White to designate a race is very iffy. In this day and age of mixed heritage around the globe, who is black and who is white? For instance, take India.. a mixture of Caucasion and other races. In one family, you can have an almost dark negroid looking sibling, while the other sibling is near caucasion and green eyed. so they have the same BACKGROUND , but one is 'black' and one is 'white' based on their coloring. ((And yes, have seen the case where the two have had exactly similar minds.. but in American society today, the near caucasion one faced far less discrimiation)).

And yes,.. sadly or not.. in this day and age, we have 'minority members' of the community who find it easier to cross the border and become the white race. aka.. Sammy Sosa (and his recent skin lightening).

So it goes to ask Mr. Webb, why is it if 'folks of color' had it easier.. why were not the poor whites trying to color themselves brown? But why the reverse happen so much secretly in society-- folks of 'color' - many do try to be 'white' to think they can move up to the 'ultimate class' of no racism and easier life.

BOTTOM LINE: undercurrents of racism have not disappeared for folks of color..

[truegreen]

11:21 PM on 07/27/2010

I hope Jim Webb can provide evidence of Blacks and Immigrants denying poor whites equal access to governments programs? Because i know a few poor and middle income whites who have no problem getting access government programs.

[wildlotus]

08:12 PM on 07/27/2010

does anyone know where new white 'European origin' immigrants fit into his 'plan'?

[goldengold]

03:02 PM on 07/27/2010

""The injustices endured by black Americans at the hands of their own government have no parallel in our history ""--> huh?

The near-extinct Native-American tribes would surely highly disagree, Mr. Webb!
oh never mind, they were never part of the government.

[PartyOfMaybe]

02:05 PM on 07/27/2010

Smart man, that Jim Webb

[DCDave]

12:34 PM on 07/27/2010

Webb is 120% right. There are no historical inadequacies to rectify concerning recent immigrants. Just like there weren't any with the Irish and Italians. Our affirmative action programs should be limited to poor african americans and poor white americans.

Affirmative action based on race has failed because money set aside for African Americans never gets to poor black people. It goes to upper middle class black people like Michelle Obama, and children of recent immigrants like Barak Obama.

I mean the fact that Obama got help getting affirmative actioned into columbia instread of some poor disenfranchised african american is ridiculous.

[instantwire]

12:54 PM on 07/27/2010

Our affirmative action programs should be limited to poor african americans and poor white americans. ->

but never any poor legal citizens of any other origin besides poor 'white' and 'African-Americans' -black-. White can mean a whole range of people by the way (Russian Americans, Irish Americans, etc... ).

any hardworking legal American citizens who are POOR folks of 'color'.. ie. Latinos, Indians, Asians... etc. , you're outta luck cause you're sterotyped as rich now.. go join Bobby Jendal, dudes...

*** this looks more like: yo immigrants of color.. get outta here.. ***

[DCDave]

08:12 PM on 07/28/2010

I have no problem with eliminating race from the discussion and focusing on income. The main thing is to not categorize recent immigrants like we do african americans.

[goldengold]

01:52 PM on 07/27/2010

poor african americans and poor white americans -> In this case, African and European immigrants who are poor would also qualify, under the umbrella of 'Black' or 'White'. There have been plenty of Canadian, Russian, Nigerian, and other 'white' or 'black' poor people benefitting these programs too...

the ones who would be left out are yes.. the poor 'immigrants of color' ...

let's all get out our shade cards..

[DCDave]

08:14 PM on 07/28/2010

I would like to see aid based soley on income and have it ignore skin color. The point is to stop treating Hispanics and whoever else as groups who have been discriminated against in the US.

[DCDave]

08:18 PM on 07/28/2010

lol, not treat hispanics as though they have been discriminated against.

[fairplaystacy]

12:08 PM on 07/27/2010

Recommended reading for Jim (Crow) Webb from the former slave State of Virginia:

http://bit.ly/aQHBc6

2008 EEO-1 National Aggregate Report
=================================
Executive/Senior Level Officials & Managers
------------------------------------------------------------------
White Men 63.45%
Black Men 1.67%

First/Mid Level Officials & Managers
-----------------------------------------------------
White Men 50.80%
Black Men 3.70%

Laborers
------------------------
White Men 31.58
Black Men 11.71

[DCDave]

12:36 PM on 07/27/2010

Please read the article. Webb wants to keep affirmative action for African Americans. He would agree with you.

[fairplaystacy]

08:55 AM on 07/28/2010

point taken

[DCDave]

12:39 PM on 07/27/2010

And these are not the right numbers, you need to look at the averages not the total numbers because african americans make up a smaller percentage of the population.

[fairplaystacy]

09:22 AM on 07/28/2010

This is official government data, what do you mean by, "...these numbers aren't right"?

Blacks are roughly 30% of the US population. There's no excuse for black men to only have 1.67% of Executive/Senior Level Officials & Managers positions! I don't care how you slice and dice the numbers. But I like how you're so shocked and appalled that you're grasping at straws to explain it away. Look, this is official government data and I provided a link so that there would be no debate on that issue. You said something about "averages"? There's no need or method for using averages to interpret this information. It is what it is and it stinks.

True there are fewer blacks than whites in America, but can you explain 1.67%? But the ratio of black men to white men is much higher than 1:63 It's not like the white guys who have these positions are working miracles at the helm of corporate America. You don't need special talent to destroy a Lehman Brothers, or an AIG, or a Citibank, or GM or Chrysler, etc. Plenty of blacks have MBAs, like G. Bush (who turned out to be a sorry specimen). Admit it, it's just plain old garden variety racism, or it's stepchild cronyism either way the system is unfair and needs to be fixed.

[farmilyman]

11:48 AM on 07/27/2010

He makes a good point. The best qualified need to be promoted. The are plenty of programs to help the poor get educations if they want it. Content of character is far more important than color of skin.

[SonicUltimate]

11:57 AM on 07/27/2010

Which is exactly what AA and EEO policies promote. I fail to see where he is taking issue with these policies.

[PartyOfMaybe]

02:07 PM on 07/27/2010

separate is inherently unequal, silly... I can't take advantage of those programs, therefore they are unequal

[instantwire]

07:23 PM on 07/30/2010

The point is GREAT in an ideal society. Like commuism works great in a society that is completely selfish-free. the problem is human nature (discrimination, racism) are human nature around the globe.. and frankly, 'content of character' is not always what people see when they see you. they do first classify you by age, race, height, skin-color, gender.. etc. etc. and for many sadly, if it does not meet their comfort-zone of 'ok person', they will never get to know your content of character...

that is the beast called racism...

[biglith]

11:43 AM on 07/27/2010

Jeez Webb, get a better dye job.

[Mach3Mass]

10:55 AM on 07/27/2010

Population of Arizona, 6,595,000. Population of Teaxs, 24,000,000. Number of estimated Rush Limbaugh listeners 14,000,000-25,000,000 weekly, conservatively. Number of Fox news viewers 698,000 daily. Now this is not to suggest that all these people are racist but I think it's interesting to look at scope. Majority of Arizonian's approve of the new immigrant legislation. No revolt or sizable backlash in Texas when the new standards for textbooks regulations passed. This is just two states and two commentators. Again this is not to suggest all Rush Limbaugh listeners are racist and all Texans are racist but I think it's important to note.

[farmilyman]

12:05 PM on 07/27/2010

The numbers of Rush listeners are most likely severely inflated. It's hard to fathom millions of people sitting around the radio being misinformed and disinformed for hours on end.

[Joan Jacobs]

12:39 PM on 07/27/2010

What does this have to do with Sen. Webb and his views on affirmative action policies?

[txrunner]

10:31 AM on 07/27/2010

America - where all persons are created equal.

However - when it's time to go to college, serve your country, or work in a public office - the color of your skin will determine your worthiness.

[Ohioan4truth]

10:36 AM on 07/27/2010

Attitude goes a long way....................

[instantwire]

10:40 AM on 07/27/2010

dang.. Sammy Sosa had it right all along..

[instantwire]

07:10 PM on 07/30/2010

Sammy Sosa.. think.. 'skin lightening' to pass to the easier white race.

why do folks of color still try to be white to go to the 'upper class' race.. but the poor white folks never tried to be brown??

think about it.

[Ohioan4truth]

10:31 AM on 07/27/2010

Hear me out, please? Why invite more to a table for supper than there are chairs to seat all who wish to eat?

If we ask too many to supper, who's going to tell grandma she won't get to eat tonight because there's no room at the table?

Should not Americans get a chance at a job who've been here all their lives or allow it to go to someone who's just arrived?

"Family" first......then if there's enough for all or something left over, then you invite guests to the feast!

It's only fair.

[Ohioan4truth]

10:35 AM on 07/27/2010

And don't throw out that old, weary statement that American workers aren't trained.

We have schools, don't we? Train those that need training!

The way repugs tell it, American workers aren't smart enough, or too lazy, or too old, or too whatever.

[instantwire]

10:39 AM on 07/27/2010

The Native-Americans agree !

corn anyone?

[Ohioan4truth]

10:44 AM on 07/27/2010

http://www.glassprison.com/kelly/misc%20pics/Troll_spray.jpg
http://www.just3ants.com/MilitaryMessageBoard/1_files/troll_b_gone.gif

Shoo! Scat! Begone!

[sheputstheLinPAIN]

10:30 AM on 07/27/2010

"In an odd historical twist that all Americans see but few can understand, many programs allow recently arrived immigrants to move ahead of similarly situated whites whose families have been in the country for generations. These programs have damaged racial harmony."

I couldn't agree more. Stupid, lazy white people are no longer ushed into opportunity and they're reeelee, reelee mad bout it.

[SonicUltimate]

10:52 AM on 07/27/2010

I like how he assumes the incoming immigrants are similarly situated to the whites they are competing with. Similarly situated means they are equally qualified, not in the same SES.

[maab76]

12:18 PM on 07/27/2010

Is it time for the programs provided begin with "How to learn even if you are not taught?" or, perhaps Homework 101: how to do the work so you learn.
Note to the whining: if you will research the trends in the racial make-up of both our country and of the world, you will find that the percentage of white skinned folks is declining rapidly, and, in fact, America is well on its way to having whites become a minority during YOUR lifetime. Creating enemies and insulting those whose heritage is different from yours is not the way to build alliances or to enlist cooperation.