Y' CAN'T
SUBSTITUTE ONE PREJUDICE FOR ANOTHER
OR ONE QUOTA
FOR ANOTHER QUOTA
Written
and broadcast by Al Julius
April
11, 1966
At
the very outset let's get one thing straight, everyone should be entitled
to compete for a job based solely upon his qualifications to fulfill that
job, and not upon his race religion or ethnic background ... That's the
ideal proposition, that's the way it should be in the field of employment
... When you fill out an application for a job, the only salient points
that should be of interest to the personnel manager is whether you have
the background to enable you to perform the job so that you will be an
asset to your employer, so that your work will prove profitable to him
and this profitable to you, except in certain specific and minor
cases there is no room on an application blank for race, religion or where
your grandparents come from ... Thus we'll say that a firm has an opening
for a qualified engineer, and a negro and a caucasian apply for the job,
the man with the highest qualifications and greatest potential should be
the one who finally gets the position, that's the only good common business
sense because an employer is going to pay out dollars and cents in wages
for the greatest return which in this case is work done, if he allows prejudice
to play a part in his choice then he is decreasing his prime purpose in
business which is to show a profit ... And it must be remembered that prejudice
is a two edged sword, it can hack and cut in either direction, causing
much pain and much more anger ... That mythical personnel manager
can hire the less qualified caucasian over the more qualified negro just
because he doesn't like negroes and that is prejudice, or because he is
afraid of public opinion or he is out to satisfy certain vocal groups he
will hire the less qualified negro over the more qualified caucasian, and
make no mistake about it this too is prejudice ... Call it a repayment
for many years of injustice, call it an attempt to balance a series of
wrong doings, however you want to disguise it, it still fits the definition
"a judgment or opinion held in disregard of facts that contradict it",
and that's the definition of prejudice ... Minority groups have been wronged,
minority groups have been sinned against, and there is such a thing as
second class citizens, but this was caused by prejudice, and this will
not be remedied by prejudice, even if they call it reverse prejudice ...
By the same token everyone agrees that quota systems are bad, they are
bad when they work against minority groups, and when they are turned around
used as a tool for the minority groups it doesn't necessarily cleanse them
and make them good because their purpose has changed ... They are still
quota systems, they are still the misbegotten child of prejudice, they
are still wrong ... You can't fight something one day and then turn around
and use it the next day because now it happens to suit your purposes ...
Therefore is one prejudice being substituted for another ... Is one quota
system replacing another ... Are we losing sight of what should be the
goal ... Judge a man as an individual, rate him on his merits ... His merits
alone.
This
... Is Al Julius
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