By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large

What a mess!

I don't think I've ever seen such a shameless abuse of political processes to accomplish legal goals as in Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell's recent actions.

Campbell has vowed to “fight to the death,” whatever that means, to defend his administration's particular brand of Affirmative Action against a lawsuit threatened by the Southeastern Legal Foundation.

If you believe his critics, he uses the program as a spoils system to reward his campaign contributors. Minority-owned businesses who contribute to his campaigns receive the big contracts whether they meet the standards of the program or not.

If you believe his supporters, he has used the program to bring small minority contractors up from poverty and give them a place at the economic table.

In discussions of Affirmative Action in general, I confess to being torn.

On the one hand, discrimination still exists in the business world.

Decision makers for private industries as well as for governments sometimes favor their own race when handing out contracts and hiring workers.

Is the solution to that problem to institutionalize discrimination in favor of minorities in order to equalize discrimination against them?

I honestly don't have an answer to that.

It's very easy to say that the forces of economics should decide who gets the goodies — the company that can provide the best service for the lowest price should get the juicy government or corporate contract, and the hardest working, best qualified worker should get the job or the promotion.

Period.

But we all know it doesn't work that way. The tendency even among those with best intentions is to do business with those who look and talk like us. And there are those whose intentions are colored by prejudice and racial hatred.

On the other hand, how can we ever realize our constitutional ideal of equal treatment under the law if we take the attitude that the only way to deal with discrimination against one group is to discriminate somewhere else against another group?

I have to believe that if we uphold the Constitution, we have a better chance of eventually getting it right. If I'm wrong about that, then we might as well dismantle our entire system of government and start from scratch.

So the concept of Affirmative Action itself, as well as every individual government's manifestation of the concept, must meet the constitutional test, or we have to find some other way of being sure that the majority doesn't discriminate against the minority.

Enter Bill Campbell, riding his high horse and vowing to defend the way he administers Affirmative Action “to the death.”

He has called for picketing of the homes of board members of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, though he knows this is illegal. He has called for boycotts against the businesses of any individuals involved in the group. He has attacked the group itself, calling names and giving the impression we are dealing with a reincarnation of the Klan itself.

One gets the impression that he will do anything to keep this case from going to court... to keep from having to measure his practices against the standards set forth in the U.S. Constitution.

And one has to wonder what he is so afraid of.

His spokesman keeps referring to the cost of a court battle. It will cost millions, he says.

But it will cost millions only if the city loses, and then appeals, and loses, and then appeals until the case works its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

That seems to be what the mayor and his minions expect to see happen, and again, one has to ask oneself why they are so unsure of their position.

Atlanta's black community, encouraged by the participation of numerous luminary, seasoned civil rights veterans, is for all practical purposes united behind the mayor in fighting tooth and nail to keep this case out of court.

Again, I'm amazed to see so few asking themselves why the mayor is so afraid to defend his program in court.

Either it's constitutional, or it's not. Court is the place to find out, not the streets.

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