Data collection on race is wrong

I found it interesting that the editorial staff of the Herald considers Proposition 200 a “threat” to our state. (August 8 “California’s race initiative could threaten our state”). The argument goes that without the “race” category on government forms, it will be impossible for us to gather data necessary to alleviate inequities due to race.

Today we are preoccupied with race as never before. I remember when race discrimination was considered an evil that had to be abolished. Back then, civil rights organizations fought against the use of race in hiring, access to public schools, and university admissions. Today, civil rights organizations fight for the use of race in hiring, access to public schools, and university admissions. The desire to “build diversity” and to practice the “politics of inclusion” has become an excuse to discriminate, and it is just as wrong as it ever was.

Collection of data by the government on people based on their race is wrong because there is no other use for this data except to treat people differently because of the way they look. Current efforts to redress inequalities invariably involve government re-allocation of resources, which necessarily involves winners and losers because the government has no resources of its own. Further, this re-allocation of resources in effect implies a collective guilt on the part of the “loser” group, an unfair and very un-American concept. We are not groups we are individuals. We are more than our skin color or our ancestor’s homeland. Yes, there are still inequalities in America, but no American should be expected to pay a debt that he or she did not incur, nor should any American be entitled to start life with an advantage as a result of skin color or ethnic background.

Progress toward genuine equality is slow, but sure. Let’s not dishonor these gains by promoting the very evil we strive to abolish. As President John F. Kennedy said in 1963, “Race has no place in American life or law.”

Bothell