5 Celebrities Who Are Dead Wrong on How to End Racism

Kerry Washington thinks affirmative action levels the playing field for everyone.

Actress Kerry Washington put up a good defense for affirmative action on Bill Maher’s HBO talk show, “Real Time,” particularly about the need to level the playing field. The effects of the program have been tracked for many years, and when you look at the numbers, it has worked very well —  just not for black people.

1. Since affirmative action was implemented, the wage gap between blacks and whites narrowed 1.2 percent every 1.5 decades. At this rate, black households won’t reach wage parity with whites for at least 200 years.
2. From 1985 to 2000, white men’s median wage rose 60 percent, black men’s 65 percent, and black women’s 70 percent: white women came well out on top with a 78 percent gain. White women’s big leap contributed greatly to blacks’ meager wage gain on whites.
3. White male unemployment rate in March was 8.9 percent and hit 19 percent for black men.  Meanwhile, black women’s unemployment rate grew from 12.1 percent to 12.4 percent, but white women held fast at 7.3 percent – USAToday, April 6, 2010.

Obviously, white women have been the primary beneficiaries of affirmative action. But just as most white men share their income and assets with white women, most white women reciprocate with white men.

More to the point, the women share with their men their affirmative action financial benefit. This means, possibly, that by virtue of the huge number of white women assisted by affirmative action, white men are the program’s second biggest beneficiaries.