Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, left, and ACRU Executive Director Allen West | Gov. Bill Lee and Allen West
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, left, and ACRU Executive Director Allen West | Gov. Bill Lee and Allen West
Tennessee's policy of allowing affirmative action in areas such as public education and public employment reflects a philosophy that's "systematically racist," the executive director of the American Constitutional Rights Union (ACRU) said.
Tennessee is among the 41 states that currently allow affirmative action, according to a recent Volunteer State News analysis.
“If there’s one policy that exemplifies systemic racism and the soft bigotry of low expectations, it's affirmative action,” former Congressman Lt. Col. Allen West (ret.), ACRU's executive director, told the Volunteer State News. “My dad challenged me to find the standard and exceed it. Affirmative action says the standard cannot be achieved due to one’s skin color, so the standard will be lowered.”
The first state to ban affirmative action was California, which passed Proposition 209 in 1996. This measure prohibited the consideration of race, gender and ethnicity in public employment, education and contracting.
“States like Tennessee who support that philosophy are systematically racist,” West said. “States that do not conform to that lie embrace the principle of equality of opportunity for all.”
Michigan banned affirmative action through a 2006 voter-approved amendment to the state constitution, which prohibited preferential treatment on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity or national origin in public employment, education and contracting. The “Yes” vote on the measure was 58%, compared to 42% voting “No.”
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Michigan's ban on affirmative action in higher education admissions in a 6-2 decision.
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