If wonder if RC has ever experienced real racism or discrimination in his life and why he is so passionate about this process. Policies like affirmative action are ethical issues and we should celebrate stories like these as successful examples of progress. Just because you see a black president doesn’t mean that discrimination is gone. RC should not fool himself into thinking we are by any means, post racial or post gender-biased. Affirmative action policies allow for fair evaluation to make up for existing inequalities. Unless RC can argue that racial and gender inequalities do in fact, not exist, his point is moot. RC is in the business of criticizing affirmative action policies and I鈥檇 guess knows little about how contracts or anything else are awarded in Portland Oregon . RC disregards the real economic and process benefits of having a diverse workforce. For as much as I can appreciate the academic values of RC鈥檚 argument, until he can prove he understands the construction industry here in Portland (or anywhere else for that matter), his theories have very little merit.

I鈥檓 not suggestion that policies should be blindly applied without looking at the whole company any more than policies in education etc should be applied without looking at the whole person, but we have an obligation as a society to insure that there is real opportunity for everyone. To assume that the R&H/Colas partnership would win bids simply because they achieve a quota is insulting to everyone involved in the process.