But that is the simple reason why affirmative action must go.   The main reason affirmative action must go is that it is longer effective.  Sure some Negroes will benefit from it, don't get me wrong, however the vast majority of Negroes do not benefit in any way whatsoever from affirmative action programs.  It is a very simple principle, that was best described by Frantz Fanon in The Wretched of the Earth.  For revolution to take place the masses must be enraged and the middle class must be prepared to lead them.  However, as long as the middle class only wants to become part of the upper class then no meaningful revolution will occur because the middle class doesn't want to change the system so much as to change their place within the existing system.  Now what does all this have to do with affirmative action you ask?  Well, the major effect of affirmative action was to allow the upper class and to some extent the middle class to move into the ranks of what I call the white middle class.  Affirmative action as currently implemented is designed to provide an access to W. E. B. Du Bois's talented tenth of the population and the children of those who have independently reached a certain socio-economic level.  Affirmative action has succeeded in doing this.  However, a side effect of this is that it has divorced the talented tenth from the huddled masses (the poor lower class and the lower middle class) thereby weakening black america.

    This sound far fetched, but when you think about the black leadership of today it is not.  The black benefactors of affirmative action have largely left the mass of black people and their problems behind.  They do not agitate for pure change, but as Fanon pointed out the in fact quench the thirst of the lower classes in their attempts to simply change position.  Don't misunderstand, I agree with Mr. Du Bois' the talented tenth needed to be recognized and advanced.  However, I also agree with Booker T. Washington that the masses of Negroes also need some form of advancement.  This is where affirmative action fails most.

    We often look around and wonder why inner cities and black communities are in such sad states.  That is because there has been no serious outlet for the improvement of most of the Negro race.  Our schools are horrible.  Our children are deprived of parental guidance and time, in an endless effort of the parent trying to provide for the family and maintain their sanity.  So what happens?  Because affirmative action provides little or no meaningful improvement in the lives of blacks and the doors to the talented tenth are being shut, affirmative action is has passed its time.

   Another problem with affirmative action is that it is designed for most black and brown participants to fail.  When you take someone who has been poorly educated and place that person in an education environment where they cannot be competitive then there is a problem with the system.  Now let's think about this for a moment.  If I go to an inner city school (which we all recognize is bad) and then get into a highly competitive university based solely upon my race and while there no further educational assistance (remedial, financial  or otherwise) is provided what are my chances of success?  But this is what happens all to often.  Then when the conservative's or who decide that affirmative action is ineffective they point to the statistics that they very system created.

    Also, affirmative action by and large has only helped a small number of negroes and latinos.  The largest group to benefit from affirmative action has been white women.  Something is wrong with that statement.   Not that I have a problem with assisting women (lord knows men have mistreated and still mistreat you), I do have a problem with  a system supposedly designed to advance Negroes not achieving that goal.  When one looks at the amount of slots or positions set aside for minority hiring it is disheartening at best.  When one looks at the number of Negroes in upper and middle management one wants to cry.  So not only has affirmative action been largely ineffective at getting Negroes in the door, it has been almost totally ineffective at providing upward mobility within the corporate structure.

    Finally, I do not advocate the wholesale dismantling of affirmative action, but I think that is the reality of what will happen.  I propose simply that we recognize this eventuality and begin implementing what I call guerilla political tactics.  We should actively fight for affirmative action, but only so that they will be willing to make concessions to make us go away.  Those concessions should all be focused on one goal: educating our children.  We know that our children will eventually have to compete without the crutch of affirmative action, so we must begin laying down the foundation to adequately prepare them to do so.  That way instead of sending our talented tenth off unprepared they have the education knowledge to truly be competitive.  Further, we must educate the masses so that they can see themselves within corporate America.  America is no longer a production economy it is a service economy and as long as we are unprepared to provide service, we will always be unemployed and unemployable.  Then we as a people must undo what the current affirmative action program has created.  We must reinstall in our children and ourselves the knowledge that we must work harder than most to succeed.  We must tell our children about when it was illegal for us to get educated, but we got education.  We must tell them about slave children who managed to acquire enough education to get into Harvard law.  We must teach them that even as slaves we ran American industry (metal and wood work - you know the stuff the massah didn't want to do - can't get  those hands dirty after all).  We must teach them pride and respect for others and for themselves.  And we must teach them that they cannot rely solely on black pride, but that they must in fact do things to be worthy of respect themselves instead of using the latest phrase or saying.  Affirmative action must go so that we can get back to the basics that our slave forefathers and foremothers taught, that we must always do our best and if we do we can compete with anyone in the world!