Uncle James' no-nonsense, no-complaining allowed upbringing, combining love with hard work, instilled in Ward a highly disciplined work ethic that went counter to the affirmative action mentality. Ward reminisces that if Uncle James had lived long enough to hear someone tell him to "celebrate diversity," he would have shot them a withering look.
Ward Connerly, best known for taking on affirmative action beginning in 1996 with California's Proposition 209, recently came out with a second book, "Lessons from Uncle James," which profiles Ward's Uncle James, who raised him like a son. It was Uncle James's parenting that planted the seeds in Ward that ultimately led to his crusade against affirmative action. Uncle James' no-nonsense, no-complaining allowed upbringing, combining love with hard work, instilled in Ward a highly disciplined work ethic that went counter to the affirmative action mentality.
The short book is beautifully written in the same elegant and powerful speaking style for which Ward is known, pulling the reader in for a quick read that flows more like easy-to-read fiction than non-fiction. There are fascinating parallels to "My Grandfather's Son," by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was raised by his strict grandfather. Although both Ward and Justice Thomas were not raised by their paternal fathers, they were fortunate enough to have a relative provide that important father role sadly missing in many black families today.
Deserted by his father at a young age, Ward lost his mother soon afterwards to a stroke. His Uncle James (the husband of his aunt Bert) took him in, and he spent the rest of his childhood living with Uncle James and Bert and his grandmother at times as well. Uncle James never saw people in terms of color. Yet, some of Ward's own family members spoke disparagingly of Uncle James behind his back because he was darker-skinned than they were. Observing this unjust cruelty taught Ward very early on that any kind of racial discrimination was wrong.
Uncle James had an uncompromising moral code and work ethic. Even though he worked in manual labor his entire life, due to a third grade education, he never felt the "stress" associated today with strenuous work. He thought that the coffee break was the worst invention, since it allowed people employed in government bureaucracies paid by his hard-earned money to "sit on their fat a*** smoking cigarettes." When he'd see someone sitting on the side of a street with a sign, "will work for food," he'd mutter, "Well then, just put down the d*** sign and go get yourself a job."
Uncle James taught Ward that you should not neglect the small things in life, because then the big things will fall into place. He carried a gun to protect himself, because a "mane has got to defend himself and his family, else he ain't no mane at all!" (his pronunciation of man) Ward frequently jokes that due to his lack of education Uncle James wouldn't have known the difference between the Second Amendment and the Third Amendment, but he had a grounded inner sense of what was right.
Uncle James also had no use for the term "African-American." When he heard the phrase, he'd say, "Sh**, I bet he's never been to Africa and ain't about to go. Those Africans don't want nothing to do with him." Uncle James resented affirmative action, calling it a handout. "If they got up off their butts and worked, they wouldn't need no affirmative action." He thought the Black Panthers were con-men and gangsters.
Uncle James considered Afrocentrism the equivalent of witchcraft. "I'm a black man and that's all there is to it. I don't know a d*** thing about Africa and I don't want to know. All I know about Africa is it's where we would still be if our ancestors didn't get lucky back all those years ago and get brought to America."
Although Ward grew up very poor, his Uncle James never let him feel sorry for himself. While living with his grandma, some days Ward would go without lunch, and there were weeks where all he would have for dinner was a slice of sweet potato and some collards from the garden. When Ward went to college, he was elected student body president, the first black student body president of Sacramento State. He writes that he didn't think of himself as a "trailblazer;" one of the reasons he wanted the job was it paid $35/mth and came with parking privileges. Uncle James agreed that it wasn't anything monumental, "You don't have to see your color all the time. If others do, that's their problem. Best thing is to just get along with life."
Ward's beloved Uncle James passed away in 1996, the same year Ward's Prop. 209 initiative banning affirmative action passed in California. Ward reminisces that if Uncle James had lived long enough to hear someone tell him to "celebrate diversity," he would have shot them a withering look. Ward shudders to think what Uncle James would have thought of Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright, who told his congregation "God damn America."
Having been raised by this impressive colorblind uncle, it is easy to understand why Ward became a champion of treating everyone as individuals, not as members of groups based on their skin color or gender. As Ward perceptively frames the issue in language for today's era, "It is often said America is ‘a nation of immigrants,' but I believe this characterization causes us to misplace our focus. America is a nation of individuals."
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