COZAD TELLS CHAMBER: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION NOTHING MORE THAN RACISM

John "Woody" Cozad raised some eyebrows at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's Friday breakfast when he spoke about the true meaning of affirmative action.

He said affirmative action is nothing more than racism.

The former state highway commissioner and University of Missouri curator called affirmative action immoral because it judges human beings differently. He said its end result does not limit discrimination as government officials want to lead everyone to believe.

The Kansas City attorney is an active Republican and close ally of former Gov. John Ashcroft. But Cozad also has a daily radio program on 75 stations in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas. His messages are often rooted in history.

Cozad told chamber members that people should be judged on how they act and the choices they make, not by things like skin color.

"When you judge someone by color and not by what they do, you refuse to see that they are fully human as you are fully human," said Cozad.

He explained that the United States is made up of a mosaic of different people from all backgrounds. So, when the government says all newly-hired people have to reflect that diversity, people are not treated equally.

Cozad contended that such a philosophy does not take into account hard work and age differences in the work forces of various ethnic groups.

"Your age and experience has a lot more to do with your income than ethnic origin," said Cozad, pointing out that the average age of employed Jews in the U.S. is 50, while the average age of employed Mexicans is 22.

Cozad said suggestions that the free market discriminates are lies. He said affirmative action guidelines are nothing more than "assaults on fundamental equality."

Affirmative action guidelines do nothing for poor people in the groups they is trying to help, Cozad contended. Instead, it only helps those who have already succeeded.

At the University of Missouri, he noted that scholarships designated only for minority students go to middle class blacks, not poor blacks.

Other results of affirmative action are that government gets bigger by trying to regulate the requirements. There are more lawsuits as a result.

Affirmative action, Cozad said, "will always require us to treat the worst member of the preferred group the same as the best member of the unpreferred group."