I suppose I should stop being surprised when something
outrageous happens and I find out it comes from California. This time
California is threatening to prohibit the 4H Club, a club formed to promote
awareness and appreciation for agriculture through activities and education,
from participating in a community fair because they have not reached racial
quotas. They have even gone so far as to threaten to disband the group
should they not meet the requirements immediately. The idea of racial
diversity is a good one in theory. The practice of forced racial diversity
through forced participation is asinine.
Because the 4H Club, a club for students aged 5 to 18 years of age, is
administered by the University of California’s Cooperative Extension (it
practically sounds socialist doesn’t it?) and the US Department of
Agriculture, they are forced to busy themselves with the ridiculous notion
that 5 to 18 year olds are concerned with racial diversity when in fact all
they want to do is participate in activities that have to do with animals
and nature. In a day and age where we find the family farm nearly erased
from existence one would think that we would be happy to have young people
interested in the subject of agriculture and husbandry. In many cases it is
hard enough for 4H programs to exist at all because of a declining interest
in agriculture in our nation. But that doesn’t seem to bother the authority
figures in California.
I
have written about a man named Ward Connerly before. He is one
of the people heading up Proposition 54 and a motivating force behind
Proposition 204 in California. Both of these propositions address the need
for the erasure of a persons color, not a person’s heritage but the effect
and the importance society had placed on a person’s race. He believes that
in order to erase the lines of color that are currently used to divide us we
must become colorblind as a people. Not unlike the very young who have no
idea they are different until their tainted parents tell them so, Mr.
Connerly believes that if we stop dividing ourselves by race intentionally
we will be able to someday put the issue of race behind us completely.
Personally, I agree with him on the matter. But in every great cause there
are those who would rather protect their right to exist, their penchant for
authority and exert their shallow-minded naiveté into a situation so full of
common sense that they stick out like acne on an otherwise porcelain
complexion. Thus is the case in California.
The Los Angeles County Director of the UC Cooperative Extension sent the
Antelope Valley 4H Club a letter saying that because they didn’t reach the
predetermined racial quota for their target area, the school in which they
hold their meetings, they would be prohibited from participating in the
Antelope Valley Fair. They went even further saying that they would be
disbanded should the quota not be reached. This presents a very valid
question. Should children be forced to participate in a program they have no
interest in simply for the sake of diversity so that others who actually
want to enjoy the program have the opportunity? It seems this needs to be
the case in Antelope Valley thanks to the ridiculous notion that a
children’s agriculture-based activities group needs to be affected by quotas
that should, for the betterment of society, be abolished.
I can see it now, 4H counselors combing the streets of East Los Angeles,
recruiting gang-bangers for the 4H club. I am sure there wouldn’t be too
many visits to the hospital for those trying to provide the numbers for
those threatening the program’s demise. Can you hear the conversations that
would take place? "Hey, what are you doing? Why not come down to the 4H Club
meeting. We are going to be setting up a field trip to the local co-op farm
to see how they have set up their irrigation systems. It will be fun. What?
Well, yes, of course there are hoes on the farm. No. That’s what the
irrigation system is all about, keeping the crack from happening.”
The idea that we must prohibit children from experiencing something positive
and productive in a society that has become increasingly mired in a quagmire
of violence, crime and apathy, especially when the children themselves are
seeking out the positive and productive aspects of our culture, is
completely backwards and it is all being done in the name of diversity. In
this instance, as it is with most instances of mandatory racial diversity
today, the practice is itself creating divisiveness in our communities.
Let’s hope that the statistical bubbleheads that are demanding these quotas
(quotas – didn’t the Supreme Court have something to say about racial
quotas?) be forced upon the good in our society come to grips with the fact
that you can’t achieve excellence by tearing things down. To achieve
inclusiveness is to create an atmosphere that fosters the desire to be
included. You can’t force people to do things. In this case, the idea of
racial difference is being hammered home. It is doing exactly the opposite
of what the intentions of those who administer the quotas are trying to
achieve.
Good luck Mr. Connerly, your time has come and none too soon.
Frank Salvato is a
political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He is a
contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch, GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials,
Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are
regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The
O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer
Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan
Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The
Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and
international publications.
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