By Darrel Smith
On January 15th President Bush announced his opposition to the University of Michigan's admissions policy, where race is a factor considered when reviewing applicants. At the university, undergraduate applicants who are minorities automatically receive 20 points under a 150-point admissions policy. In a statement Bush said, “I strongly support diversity of all kinds...but the method used by the University of Michigan to achieve this important goal is fundamentally flawed. At their core, the Michigan policies amount to a quota system that unfairly rewards or penalizes prospective students based solely on their race.” “Our Constitution,” explained President Bush, “makes it clear that people of all races must be treated equally under the law.” He insisted that programs like the ones at Michigan “create another wrong and thus perpetuate our divisions.” Such programs, he said, “are divisive, unfair and impossible to square with our Constitution.”
Responding to a statement made by Trent Lott, Bush said, “This great and prosperous land must become a single nation of justice and opportunity. We must continue our advance toward full equality for every citizen, which demands ... a guarantee of civil rights for all.
"Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive and it is wrong...Every day our nation was segregated was a day that America was unfaithful to our founding ideals.”
These truly are beautiful thoughts, but does President Bush support federal Indian policy? Federal Indian policy recognizes hundreds of race-based “nations,” violates the equal protection of the law and is effectively this country’s most radical affirmative action program. Unlike the goals of other affirmative action programs, this discriminatory policy actually promotes increased segregation instead of diversity. This separatist policy is destructive and definitely “divisive, unfair and impossible to square with our Constitution."