Q:
What’s your opinion about affirmative action?
A:
My opinion you don’t need. You know yourself. There’s no question that the doctrine of affirmative action is harmful to the nation because it’s pushing incompetence into all levels of society.
Now, I have nothing against the blacks. If someone qualifies for a job, very good; it doesn’t matter what color he is. But just because they’re black therefore you have to give in to them and give them all the jobs even though they fail all the tests; even though they don’t qualify? No, that’s wrong. The liberal judges on the Supreme Court are changing the Constitution – the Constitution gives equal rights to everybody but the judges say ‘affirmative action’ and this and that and so blacks get everything and if you’re not black so you’re closed out.
I walked into a post office right here and there was a colored woman and she couldn’t count. She couldn’t count! She made a simple error. I walked into the subway and I saw a colored man behind the counter and a colored customer came. The customer said “Give me five tokens” and shoved in a five dollar bill. So the man behind the counter said to the customer “How much is that?” And the customer said he doesn’t know. They were in a quandary now so this man behind the counter took a handful of change and pushed it out. I went into the post office in Rugby Station. I had a package to send, and it was a colored man behind the counter; and he didn’t know how to figure out the cost of mailing the package. He was twirling the pencil and thinking. There was a long line behind me so finally I said “It’s $1.40.” He said. “Thank you. You’re right.”
So the story today is that no longer does merit count for anything. People are not chosen because of their deserts. It’s a crazy doctrine that is only a recent invention on the American scene that’s being shoved down our throats by liberal judges. And so we have to pray that one day the Supreme Court will return to its senses.
TAPE # 310 (April 1980)
