response 158 of 232:

Jan 26 06:40 UTC 2003

I don't see how jep can claim affirmative action "doesn't work and will not
work" when there is plenty of evidence that it _does_, _is_ and _has_ worked.
Not completely, not perfectly, but progressing.

Irish, Italians, Chinese, Japanese, etc, have been discriminated at various
times in our history.  HOWEVER, _none_ of them have been enslaved more
recently than the late 1700s.  (If I remember my American history correctly,
chattle slavery on our shores rose out of indentured servitude: an employer
paid the servant's transportation costs and then the servant worked off the
debt.  Some employers charged for room and board, adding it to the debt. 
Fairly quickly, this abuse was outlawed, at least for Europeans.)
Without slavery, the dynamic was different for those groups.  Eventually,
others supplanted them at the bottom.

It's worth remembering, though, that the immigration quotas for southern
Europeans were lower than those for northern Europeans.