Debate about equality is heated

SALT LAKE CITY — Both sides of a heated debate on Monday about affirmative action in Utah argued for the same thing: equality. Determining the meaning of that long-held American ideal, however, had most of the crowd of several hundred red in the face.

Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, introduced a resolution in the Utah Legislature earlier this year that, if passed, would have prohibited public schools and employers from discriminating or giving preferential treatment based on race or gender. Though the measure was defeated, the state's Black Advisory Council organized Monday's forum to discuss a potential reintroduction during the 2011 legislative session. Oda, who argued in support of his resolution on Monday, said he is "gathering additional information" and has not yet decided whether he will make a move.

Ward Connerly, founder and president of the American Civil Rights Institute, backed Oda. Rep. David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, and Mary Deiss Brown, an attorney specializing in immigration and family law, spoke for the opposition.

"Many of us are wishing for a completely color blind society, one in which we respect each other, we respect ourselves and no one seeks favoritism from one another," Oda said. "We will never completely end prejudice — that is human nature. But ladies and gentlemen, we cannot continue to use discrimination to fight discrimination."

Connerly, who is from California, said affirmative action was created as a policy of nondiscrimination and was never intended to give preferential treatment.

As a black man, he said, he was raised to believe in self empowerment.

"My people fought long and hard for the Civil Rights Act of 1964," Connerly said. "What that act does is guarantees to every American the right to equal treatment under the law. That's what this proposal is all about."

Connerly and Oda argued that affirmative action, while it had its place, was created in a different era. The time has now come, they said, for the government to start developing educational and hiring programs that will not sort people according to race and gender.

Litvack and Brown argued, however, that racism is still alive and well in Salt Lake City.

"I grew up in Salt Lake and I've gotta say, the first time I saw a black person I was in junior high," Brown said. "I don't know of any instance when a white man can say he's been disadvantaged."