‘Unacceptable, Divisive and Cynical’ : Affirmative action: The Urban League explains why it won’t hold its 1966 national convention in Los Angeles.

It is unacceptable and dangerously divisive for elected officials to use affirmative action as a political wedge. And it’s downright cynical to distract the American citizenry from their own insecurities by pitting economically put-upon white males against equally put-upon women and minorities. The American people shouldn’t stand for it. The withdrawal of our 1996 national convention from California signals clearly that we of the Urban League movement won’t.

Farsighted employers in the public and private sectors see the bottom line benefits of inclusion. Their diverse work forces equip them to spot, analyze and penetrate new markets here and abroad and to develop new products for America’s growing minority population.

Inclusion matters enormously in higher education as well. Diverse student bodies equip all students--white and minority, female and male--for the multiethnic and increasingly global world of work that awaits them upon graduation.

Critics of affirmative action say people should be selected solely on merit. We of the Urban League agree. The crucial question is what we mean by merit and how we judge who is meritorious. Gatekeeping tests like the SAT may help spot those who’ll do well in the freshman year of college, but they don’t necessarily predict who’ll perform well later in life. A study of Harvard graduates who had been out of school 30 years showed that the most successful alumni had lower SAT scores and came from blue-collar backgrounds. In other words, they were ambitious, if not the most bookish of college students.

If inner-city youngsters are to run the race at our behest and with our help, they must know that if they cross the finish line, the opportunity on the other side really will be open to them. Hence the continuing need for no-nonsense commitments by colleges, universities and employers to recruit from the inner city.

Any effort to lift the poor out of poverty doesn’t obviate the continuing need to include women and minorities from more advantaged circumstances. It’s clearly in society’s interest to ensure that the beachhead they have established in the middle class doesn’t erode.