Debate *Read Carefully*

\f CAPELLA UNIVERSITY

Debate Topics Choose one of the following topics from the Taking Sides text to prepare as if you were going to engage in a debate. Issue: Is affirmative action an effective way to reverse racial inequality? Yes: Chauncey DeVega, from "White America's Toxic Ignorance: Abigail Fisher, Antonin Scalia and the Real Privilege That Goes Unspoken," Salon (2015). No: Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor, Jr., from "The Painful Truth About Affirmative Action," The Atlantic (2012). Chauncey DeVega, a political essayist and cultural critic, presents a significant review of the history of racial discrimination and exclusion that African Americans have experienced throughout the history of the nation. Given this history and the prevalence of white skin privilege throughout history, DeVega views affirmative action as a modest attempt to foster equal opportunity. According to DeVega, opposition to affirmative action is often informed by ignorance and racism. Richard Sander, a UCLA law professor and economist, and Stuart Taylor Jr., contributing editor for National Journal and a contributing editor at Newsweek, are concerned that affirmative action in college admissions has evolved into a program of racial preferences that do harm to both minority students and the colleges that they attend. Sander and Taylor are also concerned that colleges are not responding to the need to reform such programs.

Issue: Is “stand your ground” legislation race neutral? Yes: Patrik Jonsson, from "Racial Bias and 'Stand Your Ground' Laws: What the Data Show," The Christian Science Monitor (2013). No: Sabrina Strings, from "Protecting What's White: A New Look at Stand Your Ground Laws," The Feminist Wire (2014). Patrik Jonsson, a staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor who writes about race and gun rights, argues that “stand your ground” laws are not racially biased. He believes that such legislation is a response to the increasing concern with self-defense that has been generated by events such as 9/11 and the high rate of crime. Sabrina Strings, a sociologist at the University of California who teaches in the School of Public Health and Sociology, believes that “stand your ground” laws are not racially neutral and are primarily directed at African Americans. To Strings, “stand your ground” laws are reflective of an historical tendency to protect whites and their property from a perceived threat from African Americans, especially black males.

Issue: Should children of undocumented immigrants have a birthright to U.S. citizenship? Yes: Eric Foner, from "Birthright Citizenship Sets America Apart," The Cap Times (2010). No: George F. Will, from "An Argument to Be Made about Immigrant Babies and Citizenship," The Washington Post (2010).

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\f CAPELLA UNIVERSITY Distinguished professor of history at Columbia University, Eric Foner, examines the legal and constitutional basis for granting birthright citizenship and argues that this right illuminates the strength of American society. Conservative newspaper columnist and commentator, George F. Will, is troubled by the facile tendency to grant birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants. He views this practice as reflecting a misinterpretation of the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment. He vigorously opposes this policy.

Issue: Is there a need for a permanent voting rights act? Yes: Linda Greenhouse, from "The More Things Change…," The New York Times (2013). No: Abigail Thernstrom, from "Redistricting, Race, and the Voting Rights Act," National Affairs (2010). Linda Greenhouse writes about the Supreme Court for the New York Times. She expresses concern about the Court’s attempts to invalidate Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. She leaves us with the implication that this development is due to the ascendency of conservatism in American politics and the continuing impact of race in legal and political decision making. Abigail Thernstrom, a political scientist, is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute in New York. She has written extensively on race and voting rights. She argues that it is time to end race- driven districting and that certain sections, especially Section 5, of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 are no longer needed.

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