plains wliy there has been virtually no outcry over the fact that firmative action preferences to all nonwhites—and not just thernlaws specifically crafted to abolish racial discrimination are presumed victims of slavery—shows the true nature of toda’srnnow used to require discrimination. It explains why preferences “civil rights” movement. Righting injustices has little to dornfor blacks—for which some sort of case might have been made with it. It is mainly an attempt to adxance the group interestsrnbecause of slavery—have, without a murmur of opposition, of nonwhites at the expense of whites. It is a broad attack onrnbeen expanded to include Hispanics, Asians, Eskimos, Amer- whites (as whites) and is one in which many whites themicanrnhidians, Puerto Ricans (and even women), whose histor- selves have joined.rnical circumstances and presumed victimization are vastly dif- This situation cannot last. Injustice cannot be fought withrnferent from those of blacks. Finally, it explains what may be the injustice any more than discrimination can be cured throughrnmost unjustifiable form of “antidiscrimination” of all: affir- discrimination. If nonwhites continue to promote explicitlyrnmative action for nonwhite immigrants as soon as they set foot racial interests at the expense of whites, whites, too, will pursuernin America. If anyone doubted the complete disappearance explicitly racial interests. If governments continue to requirernamong whites of organized efforts to protect their group inter- discrimination against whites in the name of “equal opportuests,rnaffirmative action for immigrants is surely proof. nity,” whites will increasingly resent not just nonwhites butrnThe way in which antidiscrimination is defined and en- their own government. Race has always been at the heart ofrnforced therefore presents a remarkable irony: whites not only our nation’s greatest domestic conflicts. Current interpretasubmitrnquietly to official racial discrimination, but because tions of ciil rights law virtually guarantee a worsening of racernthey hae so little racial consciousness thev permit themselves relations and the likelihood of ever more damaging conflicts,rnto be hounded and punished for “crimes” that only people with crna strong sense of race are likely to commit. The extension of af-rnOldrnby Lauiance WiederrnCloser to the end, I always trustedrnLife continues, though at timesrnThe outlaw bands surrounded mernOn horseback in the open plains.rnFired repeated shotsrnAnd no rock, no cave, no cliff nor cover near.rnSince childhood, I have survivedrnTheir godforsaken consultations,rnA young man born to rulernHimself, and others. Now white hairrnWisps, my grip slack on the walking stick.rnAnd people when they look at allrnSee baggy suit, large knuckles foldedrnOne upon the other, don’t quite catchrnThe name, the choice that made mernWhat I am.rnI lift my head uprnFrom the table doze. Late afternoonrnIn winter sunlight floods our benchesrnAnchored to the traffic islands.rnMy companions ply their canes,rnBeat time while sitting, but I singrnBecause I’m able: GodrnOf Israel, still twangrnThe evening string, my soulrnCaught sweetly in the longer shadows:rnDarkness swallows up confusionrnRaking gravel smooth around the ruin.rnOCTOBER 1993/17rnrnrn