DiversityInc - May 2011

DiversityInc

EVENT REPORT

ince the term “affirmative action” was first uttered by President John F.
Kennedy in 1961, it has been the subject of intense debate and controversy.
That debate continued at DiversityInc’s learning event in Washington,
D.C., in March when anti-affirmative-action leader Ward Connerly took
to the stage and argued that the government should not be in the business
“of picking winners and losers based on factors such as skin color.”
Connerly told the audience of senior diversity-management executives
that he believes affirmative action is a form of racism and that people can
achieve success without preferential treatment in college enrollment or in
employment.

Connerly, president of the American Civil Rights Institute, who is
best known for leading the state-to-state effort to roll back affirmative
action, described himself as a crusader for “a colorblind society” and
argued that dismantling affirmative action will force the government to
treat all its citizens equally regardless of their racial background.

THE PANELISTS
LUKE VISCONTI
Chief Executive Officer,
DiversityInc
WELDON H. LATHAM
Senior Partner,
Jackson Lewis
GILBERT CASELLAS
Former Head of the
Equal Employment
Opportunity
Commission
DR. ELLA BELL
Professor, Tuck School
of Business, Dartmouth
College, and Founder
of ASCENT
LORA FONG
Corporate Counsel,
Salesforce.com
WARD CONNERLY
President of the
American Civil Rights
Institute

“We’re not trying to end all
affirmative action. We’re trying to
end the practice of the government
making distinctions between its
citizens and preferring some, by giv-
ing extra points. That disadvantages
one over the other,” said Connerly.
“I’ve always believed that if every-
one has an equal chance to compete
and if we believe in the view that
we’re all created equally by the
good Lord, then diversity will be the
outcome.”
Responding to a critique from the
audience that he misleads voters,
Connerly said, “I really take excep-
tion with the notion that we’re trying
to mislead people, that we’re being
disingenuous. If there is disingenu-
ity there, it’s mutually shared by our
opponents as well as us.”
Visconti then took Connerly to
task for billing the initiative to end
affirmative action as “a civil-rights
cause,” noting that thousands of
voters have been duped into sign-
ing petitions and voting in favor of
measures over the years because
they’re typically described as bans
on discrimination instead of attacks
on programs that help women
and people from traditionally
underrepresented groups.