A conversation with Elaine Jones, former President of the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP about where Affirmative Action is now



A conversation with Elaine Jones, former President of the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP about where Affirmative Action is now

JC & Friends: Elaine Jones

Written by JC Hayward

Created:2/25/2005 5:50:18 PM

Last Updated:2/26/2005 10:23:09 AM

In recognition of Black History Month JC & Friends has been looking at issues important to the African American Community.

Affirmative Action set up public policies and initiatives to help eliminate past and present discrimination. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act said it was against the law to discriminate in employment. Recently, I had a conversation with Elaine Jones, former President of the Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP about where Affirmative Action is now.

In 2003 the Supreme Court upheld Affirmative Action but split on how far it should go. In a case involving the University of Michigan Law School, the justices said that the use of race can be used as a factor for admission, but the court added; using race violates the equal protection clause and should not be the determining factor.


Elaine Jones: We still have a long way to go, because race, although we don’t like to talk about it, is still a factor in how this country functions.

Our young people have to understand, for every door that opened, they’ve got to prepare themselves as best they can to walk through it. That’s some opportunity there. The opportunity that’s available needs to be seized.

JC Hayward: What is the future of Affirmative Action?

Jones: If we had done what the court permitted us to do, which was to reach out and be inclusive, we wouldn’t need Affirmative Action today. We didn’t fully follow what the court indicated we could do. We fought it, we fought it. I mean, this country, you know “what, we’re letting folks come in and we’re letting race be a factor!” Race has been a factor in exclusion, historically. So why not now in inclusion? Not saying forever, but for a period of time. So, in 1975, had we done for that thirty years, 2005, what the court has now told us we need to apply and do for the next thirty years.. if we embrace it and use it, we may not need it thirty, thirty-five years from now. But, if we continue to drag our feet and not give these kids an opportunity, not give these parents an opportunity, not give these families an opportunity, not to spread the resources around in a bit more equitable fashion, we’re going to need affirmative action for a long, long time to go. Thirty years will not be enough. It depends on our attitude and the nation’s approach.

-Interview End

Presently, Elaine Jones is fighting for full voting rights in Congress for the District of Columbia.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Coates Redmon, Peace Corps Chronicler Coates Redmon, a staffer in Sargent Shriver's Peace Corps, died February 22 in Washington, DC. Her book "Come as You Are" is considered to be one of the finest (and most entertaining) recountings of the birth of the Peace Corps and how it was literally thrown together in a matter of weeks. If you want to know what it felt like to be young and idealistic in the 1960's, get an out-of-print copy. We honor her memory.

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February 26, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Folk-Singer Steve Schuch releases "Trees of Life" 26 Feb Christopher Bartlett maintains Marine Protected Area 25 Feb Joseph Frey uses amputation experience to help others 25 Feb James McCann concerned by maize in Ethiopia 25 Feb Sen. Obama says PC can help improve diplomacy 24 Feb PCVs help remove batteries in Belize 24 Feb Jimmy Carter praises mother's PC service 24 Feb Craig D. Wandke's lunar passion began in Honduras 23 Feb Char Andrews discusses her experience with cancer 23 Feb Beverly Seckinger tells stories through film 23 Feb J. Tyler Dickovick: As Togo goes, so may go Africa 23 Feb Andres Hernandez searches for PCV for 40 years 23 Feb Bulgaria is now like second home to Aaron Wills 22 Feb Bernadette Roberts to serve as diplomat in Albania 22 Feb USA Freedom Corps downgraded at White House 22 Feb Tom Skeldon seeks to control pit bull trade 21 Feb Gabriela Lena Frank writes music on Dad's PCV service 21 Feb

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Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

RPCVs mobilize support for Countries of Service RPCV Groups mobilize to support their Countries of Service. Over 200 RPCVS have already applied to the Crisis Corps to provide Tsunami Recovery aid, RPCVs have written a letter urging President Bush and Congress to aid Democracy in Ukraine, and RPCVs are writing NBC about a recent episode of the "West Wing" and asking them to get their facts right about Turkey.

Read the stories and leave your comments.