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The Significance of Affirmative Action for the Souls of White Folk: Further Implications of a Helping Model
Journal of Social Issues, Winter, 1999 by Anthony R. Pratkanis, Marlene E. Turner
Anthony R. Pratkanis [*]
We develop further our model of affirmative action as help (Pratkanis & Turner, 1996b; Turner & Pratkanis, 1994) by looking at the impact of aid on the donor. White Americans often take one of three approaches to affirmative action. First, they can reject affirmative action because of their own personal frustrations. Second, they can engage in selective aid that maintains the basic patterns of social dominance. Both of these approaches can damage the psychological functioning of Whites. Third, White Americans can proactively seek to remove discriminatory barriers in a process we call democratic altruism, thereby opening the possibility of learning from diverse others and growth as a person. We conclude by discussing tactics for promoting democratic altruism.
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As a young man, Thomas Jefferson was called upon by his fellow citizens to put forth the case for independence of the American colonies from England. He did so in no uncertain terms:
We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. (Jefferson 1776/1944)
As these words make clear, Thomas Jefferson was infatuated with democracy. He introduced 12 bills into the Virginia legislature in an attempt to ban slavery. (None of them passed.) The first draft of the Declaration of Independence contained a passage condemning slavery. (It was struck out in committee.) Much of Jefferson's life was devoted to establishing institutions to promote democracy. He authored Virginia's freedom of religion statute, which served as a model for the nation. He considered the establishment of the University of Virginia to be one of his three most important contributions because it would allow citizens to gain an education and thus participate more effectively in civic life. During the Revolutionary War, Jefferson's life was often in danger as a supporter of American liberty. For Americans and others who seek liberty from tyrants, Jefferson's words of independence have defined the essence of democracy: the right of every citizen to liberty and fair treatment and the responsibility of gov ernment and citizens to respect and protect those rights.
But Thomas Jefferson was also a slave owner (Jordan, 1968; O'Reilly, 1995). At the time he drafted the Declaration of Independence, one fifth of the American population was enslaved. Jefferson himself was the second-largest owner in Albemarle County with 175 slaves and at one point owned over 200 human beings. Unlike others such as George Washington, Jefferson never freed his slaves (save for a few, mostly with the last name of Hemings). He frequently claimed he would free his slaves as soon as he was financially able, but his love of wine and other luxuries left him owing over $100,000 at his death, and his slaves were sold to pay this debt. Jefferson also wrote some of the most racist descriptions of African Americans in the history of the nation. He believed Negroes to be ugly and crude, to be intellectually inferior and incapable of achievement, to desire sexual relations with White women, and to possess a disagreeable odor because they secrete less by the kidneys and more by the glands of the skin. When shown examples of the talents of Black men, Jefferson quickly dismissed and disparaged the reports. As he grew older, Jefferson became silent on slavery, refusing to join the abolitionist movement and adopting a bizarre theory of diffusion: that slavery would disappear if extended to all territories.
And Tom loved Sally. Although there has been controversy, the facts are now apparent (Gordon-Reed, 1997). Thomas Jefferson had a sexual affair with one of his Black slaves named Sally Hemings. The affair lasted from around 1788 until the death of Jefferson on July 4, 1826, and was apparently monogamous on both parts. Sally Hemings bore Tom Jefferson four children who lived to adulthood (and perhaps as many as three others). One can only imagine the turmoil in Jefferson's soul. His own children and the woman he loved were slaves, unable to participate in the democracy he so valued. And he was unable to dream the American father's dream about what his children would one day become.
The personality of Thomas Jefferson is an enigma to the students of history. Who is he: the great liberator of humankind or a common slave owner? Some historians attempt to resolve the dilemma by denying part of it, claiming that Thomas Jefferson never loved Sally Hemings and that he was merely following the institutions of the time in his acceptance of slavery (see for example, Mapp, 1987, 1991). However, Thomas Jefferson was never one to merely follow the fashions of the day. Further compounding the problem are the stakes involved. Both George Wills (quoted in Burns, 1996) and Annette Gordon-Reed (1997) view Jefferson as the personification of America; he gave us the essential words of the American creed. Thomas Jefferson and his conflicts--his passion for democracy, his dependence on the fruits of slavery, his love of a Black woman--and how he resolved them--sometimes arguing for equality, sometimes denigrating African Americans, and finally avoiding the topic--also exemplify how White Americans approach the issue of race. To ask, "who is Thomas Jefferson?" is to inquire about the nature of the souls of Americans.
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