Racial Discrimination. For a Good Cause.

"Positive discrimination."

It's just racial discrimination by another name. From the Guardian:

Ethnic minority police officers would be promoted and recruited ahead of white colleagues as a way of boosting the fight against terrorism, under radical plans being drawn up by Britain's top police officers.

The Guardian has learned that the Association of Chief Police Officers is discussing with the Home Office proposals to introduce positive discrimination across the service in England and Wales.

The scheme would also see selected black, Asian and female officers offered entry into the police service not as constables, but in promoted posts, up to the rank of inspector.

The reforms would need new legislation as positive discrimination in favour of women and ethnic minorities is illegal as the law stands.

To at least some extent, racial discrimination might now be a bad idea.

If you want to infiltrate a suspected militant Muslim terror cell would you want to send in lily-white, conservative, Christian Zombyboy or someone of the correct ethnic and religious background? When hiring or promoting someone to that position, by eliminating me from the running because of my racial and religious background, it's obvious that I'm being discriminated against, but it would be hard to argue that the discrimination isn't happening for a good reason.

The question has to be, though, whether the people pushing this initiative are discriminating for a good reason (like the need to investigate specific, insular communities) or for a bad reason (affirmative action).

Read the story.

Posted by zombyboy at May 3, 2004 11:31 AM | TrackBack