Unjust System Takes Toll On Life Gross Inequities Blacks Primarily Worked As Menial Laborers Or In Domestic Jobs.

Think of two World War II era men in this region, one black and one white. Picture them of similar character: laboring long hours, worshipping regularly, supporting their families faithfully.

Imagine them now in their 70s, and consider where their perseverance has taken them. Odds are that the white man will live in a nicer house, in a better neighborhood with a larger retirement check than the black man. Why? Because the white man was granted enormous opportunity and privilege.

Black men of the same era were systematically excluded from jobs, education and opportunity. Affirmative action, which Lyndon Johnson launched in 1965, began to tackle this inherent unfairness. Abandoning affirmative action, as Washington’s Initiative 200 calls for, risks an unconscionable return to the past.

A generation ago there were no black bank tellers in Spokane, no black mechanics or car dealers or chefs, according to the Spokane branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Blacks primarily worked as menial laborers or in domestic service jobs as waiters, porters or bartenders.

The critics of affirmative action believe that hiring decisions of the past were based on merit. That’s simply a myth. During the post-war era, the job-seeker’s motto was “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Who you inevitably needed to know was a white male.

Consider the granite-like face of Will Barron, the Spokane Club’s recently retired maitre d’, forced to work two and three jobs throughout his 51-year career. Think, too, of the face of Vernon Baker, denied his Medal of Honor for 52 years, and that of Carl Maxey, Spokane’s first black attorney, dead this year of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Think of the toll of a lifetime of fighting against an unjust system. And think about pain.

Affirmative action itself is not without hardship. It tackles a problem too complex for easy solutions. But the inconvenience and disappointment it creates - from a missed opportunity for a promotion here or a change in college plans there - shrink in comparison to the pain it’s designed to mitigate.

Think of a few well-known Inland Northwest faces. Consider their eyes. Consider simple justice.

And think very long and hard, if you are white and male, before you dare to complain.

, DataTimes MEMO: For opposing view, see “America is still land of opportunity”

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, EDITORIAL - From both sides CREDIT = Jamie Tobias Neely/For the editorial board