[18 SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 1990 helped let Bush…]
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18 SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 1990 helped let Bush off the hook. Bush said he would not back a law that sanctioned quotas as the way to remedy racial and sexual discrimination in society.
The specific bill adopted by both houses of Congress would have effectively "overturned" five 1989 Supreme Court decisions that weakened existing civil rights laws. It would have allowed women for the first time to sue for punitive damages. Minorities can already do so.
But the liberal Democrats and Republicans in Congress told Bush he was mistaken. They also opposed quotas and said the new law would allow affirmative-action programs to continue as they have for 20 years before 1989. Bush didn't believe them. He said he'll write his own anti-quota civil rights bill next year.
After the vote little was said by the trade union or Black rights liberals. They reaffirmed their plan to elect more liberals to Congress. No protests were called. Nothing.
Of course this is not surprising. The Black, women, and union leaders have been retreating on civil rights for some time. The rightist direction of all capitalist politics over the decade has put them on the defensive. So much so that those who once advocated affirmativeaction programs with teeth—meaning some type of quotas-don't do so anymore.
Yet quotas is the central issue of civil rights in a society based on discrimination. All economic and social indicators show the second-class status of Blacks and Special offer for new readers: I 16 months for $3 Name Address City If you like this paper, dau to Socialist Act to Socialist Actior 1 year for $6 State Tel Send to: 3435 Army St., Rm. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110.