Grex Agora41 Conference

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Grex Agora41 Item 237: Tales from the 'hood - affirmative action.
Entered by bdh3 on Wed Jun 5 03:45:47 UTC 2002:

Maybe its just me.  But there is a situation here
in my 'hood that I just simply find hilarious.  A contractor
was hired to build some section eight housing and somebody
noticed that all the workers were white or hispanic.  Well
the contracter was pressured into hiring some blacks which
he did all well and fine (probably had a nice enough profit
margin so it didn't make him no never mind).  But the local
alderman got wind of this and wants the blacks to be fired.
Seems the group that did the pressuring was (a certain 
nationally known figure's I understand) not the alderman's 
and so wants this group's blacks to be fired and the 
alderman's blacks to be hired instead.  One group of blacks 
losing their jobs over affirmative action in the favor of 
another group of blacks.

13 responses total.

#1 of 13 by jaklumen on Wed Jun 5 11:54:22 2002:

Politicking as usual.

#2 of 13 by happyboy on Wed Jun 5 16:32:25 2002:

re0:  8D

#3 of 13 by other on Thu Jun 6 06:02:14 2002:

Put the alderman up against a wall and let the guys he wants fired have 
at him with whipped cream and cooked spaghetti.

#4 of 13 by scg on Thu Jun 6 07:27:32 2002:

The perversion of affirmative action sounds like at most a side issue here.
It sounds far more like an issue of political patronage, taken to an extreme.

#5 of 13 by slynne on Thu Jun 6 15:04:20 2002:

Sounds like what I would consider a stereotype of Chicago politics.

#6 of 13 by orinoco on Thu Jun 6 16:40:16 2002:

When I lived in Chicago, many people seemed to think that affirmative action
was used as an excuse for patronage pretty often.  I never payed enough
attention to have an opinion on it, but I can't say this surprises me much.

#7 of 13 by gull on Mon Jun 17 16:22:44 2002:

Here's an interesting question:

Chicago government is highly corrupt, but stuff gets done.
Detroit government is highly corrupt, but nothing gets done.

What's the difference?  If we can't clean up Detroit's government, can we at
least get it to be Chicago-style corrupt instead so that stuff actually gets
fixed?

#8 of 13 by jaklumen on Tue Jun 18 12:21:03 2002:

how's da mob operate in Detroit?

#9 of 13 by russ on Wed Jun 19 01:27:13 2002:

I think we could clean up Detroit with a serious effort to find the
corrupt officials and functionaries, send some to jail and fire the
rest.  That would at least offer some hope.

#10 of 13 by gull on Wed Jun 19 12:42:17 2002:

Like in any urban area, someone equally corrupt would just spring up to fill
the void.

#11 of 13 by orinoco on Wed Jun 19 18:55:44 2002:

I imagine being a corrupt official in Detroit is less profitable than being
one in Chicago.  Probably less gratifying too, since there's less power
involved.  Could it be that Detroit's corrupt officials just aren't as good
at it?

#12 of 13 by other on Thu Jun 20 17:02:39 2002:

I suspect there's little mob involvement in the corruption in Detroit.  
The mob folks have been at it long enough to make it work, while the 
Detroit folks are the nouveau mal.  Well, for the last thirty five years 
or so, anyway.

#13 of 13 by bhelliom on Thu Jun 20 20:38:20 2002:

I suppose it those that are not corrupt may on the whole become 
demoralized faster in Detroit than in Chicago?  With less resources, 
lower pay and slower rates of development, I could see why that may be 
a factor.

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