What's next for Michigan? Affirmative action--yes or no? Did Gerald Ford really support civil rights? This week's top affirmative-action news has bloggers asking these questions and more. What are they saying? Like most things, it depends on whom you ask.

What's Next for Michigan?

What happened? A federal court ordered Michigan universities to stop using affirmative action immediately, lifting a six-month injunction of the voter-approved ban imposed by a lower court. One pro-affirmative-action group says it will appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but skeptics say their case won't hold ground.  

Top Affirmative Action Stories on DiversityInc

·     Affirmative-Action Ban Takes Court-Approved 'Timeout'   ·     Is Ward Connerly 'Selling Out in the Name of Love?'   ·     Affirmative-Action Supporter Gerald Ford Dies at 93   ·     'A Reversal of Historic Proportions': Brown V. Board of Ed May Be Overturned   ·     Who Is Paying to End Affirmative Action? High-Ranking Bush Officials, Rupert Murdoch   ·     Affirmative-Action Enemy Moves on to Next Target   ·     Will School Integration Be Axed?   ·     School Integration on Trial: Whose Money Is Pushing This? ·     'God Bless' KKK, Says Ward Connerly as He Leads Push to End Affirmative Action   ·     Context Matters: Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Today   Want more affirmative action? Click here.

What's in the blogs? Many bloggers support the federal court's decision, citing the 58 percent majority of Michigan voters (most of whom were white) who approved the affirmative-action ban. One blogger submits it would be hypocritical to allow the injunction, quoting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, which another blogger claims is "the real hypocrisy." Read more. 

JMK, a self-professed "working-class conservative" and FDNY firefighter, mocks Michigan universities' efforts to delay the affirmative-action ban. He says the primary problem with affirmative action is it's rooted in "presumed incompetence," which he believes is racism in its purest form. Read more.

Affirmative Action: Yes or No?

What happened? Long-time affirmative-action foe Ward Connerly recently was invited to speak before Wisconsin's special legislative committee on affirmative action, which has intensified national debate over its utility.  

What's in the blogs? Inviting Ward Connerly to speak at an affirmative-action hearing is like asking a KKK Grand Wizard to speak before a committee on race relations, opines Joel McNally. He claims the United States was founded on affirmative action for whites, albeit not federalized, and cites President Bush as a beneficiary. Read more.

Did anything positive come of Connerly's visit to Wisconsin? Not only does one blogger say yes, he calls Connerly's appearance a "stroke of good fortune." Why? In a sarcastic invective condemning a pro-affirmative-action Wisconsin representative, Dan Kenitz calls for an end to "racial preferences." Why? Because "separate means unequal." Read more.

Another blogger denounces the anti-affirmative-action movement as a thinly veiled attempt to sustain white supremacy. While Connerly substantiates his efforts by espousing concern for "reverse discrimination," this blogger catches him on a vital point. There's no evidence, and Connerly knows it. Read more. As James Collier points out in his blog Acting White, affirmative-action programs are needed to remedy past discrimination, but the negative press surrounding the term sets its beneficiaries up to fail. Read more.

Gerald Ford and Civil Rights

What happened? Everyone remembers Gerald Ford as the only president never elected, the man who helped the nation recover after Watergate and withdrew the last troops from Vietnam. Where did Ford stand on civil rights? He's an affirmative-action supporter who opposed busing to achieve school integration. (See also: Affirmative-Action Supporter Gerald Ford Dies at 93)

What's in the blogs? Some bloggers are wondering how he aligned these contradictory viewpoints, while others argue they're not contradictory at all. Affirmative-action foes blame the "left wing" for attempting to frame Ford's legacy around civil rights--a subject they claim was a minimal priority on his presidential agenda.

One blogger writes, "The American dream was never intended for black people to enjoy, and Ford maintained the status quo by approving initiatives that benefited white people, and kept white privilege alive." Read more.

Jeffrey Toobin, an Amherst Times writer, reminds the public that Ford was responsible for the amicus brief submitted by retired military officers in the 2003 University of Michigan cases--prose from which Sandra Day O'Connor adopted in her majority decision. This writer claims this brief, which Ford set in motion, may have been the most influential in the history of the Supreme Court. Read more.

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