Ward Connerly is at it again

Not content with spearheading the drive to kill efforts to increase the number of African Americans with access to higher education, when this year's admission numbers to UCLA showed more blacks than previously, the former UC regent insulted those who got in:

"One of three things must be happening," Connerly said Thursday. "Black kids have either gotten extremely smart or extremely competitive in a way they weren't five or six years ago, or there's been a deliberate, carefully orchestrated effort by a lot of admissions people to conspire to increase those numbers, or they've found a proxy for race."

LA Times
April 6, 2007

Right. Black kids can't be smart enough or determined enough to win admission -- somebody must have cheated on the law to get them admitted.

Mr. "Pull Up the Ladder My Republican Sponsors Gave Me After Me" is nothing if not consistent in his contempt for people who might need a little help to level the playing field.

Interestingly, the same article reported a smart and generous response to the demographic shift which slightly reduced Asian American acceptances.

Candice Shikai, a UCLA junior who is a leader of UCLA's Asian Pacific Coalition, noted the drop in Asian Americans in the admitted class, but said she and other Asian American students were happy to see black admissions rise.

"It's really great that the African American admissions increased, but I think we still need to realize that there are communities within the Asian community -- Pacific Islanders and some of the Southeast Asian communities -- that still lack access," Shikai said.

That's keeping the focus where it belongs, on encouraging a California institution to do the hard work of helping all our citizens, especially whatever communities need a leg up, to participate fully in the unprecedented cultural mix we're living.