ACLU of Louisiana To Debate White Supremacist on Affirmative Action

NEW ORLEANS, February 14, 2003 --On Monday February 17 an African-American volunteer attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana will debate the former National Director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, on the issue of affirmative action.

Monday's debate is being organized by the Hi-Y Club of Mandeville High School.  The debate will take place at 7:30 p.m. at the Mandeville Community Center in St. Tammany Parish-30 minutes northeast of New Orleans. 

The two participants--Ron Austin and David Duke--have resolved to debate the statement: "Affirmative action is necessary to redress injustices caused by discrimination against people of color and women in education and employment."  Ron Austin will argue in the affirmative and David Duke will argue in the negative. 

"A nation that has engaged in centuries of subjugation, segregation and discrimination based on race and gender cannot now insist that we cannot tolerate selection processes in which race and gender is considered for remedial purposes," said Ron Austin, a volunteer attorney with the ACLU of Louisiana who will debate Mr. Duke. 

The ACLU believes that there exists a continuing need for vigorous efforts to redress the adverse effects of racism and sexism and other forms of invidious discrimination in American society.  The ACLU is co-counsel in a closely watched battle over the use of affirmative action in admissions at the University of Michigan.  The Supreme Court will take up the issue on April 1.  A number of Fortune 500 companies, private universities and several former high-ranking military officials have submitted friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the university's admissions policy.

The debate will be moderated by a neutral party and is scheduled to run approximately one hour.  Jordan Arnold, a member of the Hi-Y Club initiated the idea and handled arrangements for the event. 

"Affirmative action helps to level the playing field long full of potholes for persons of color and women, thus providing opportunities that would have otherwise been denied them," said Joe Cook, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana. "It permits consideration of such factors as race, gender and national origin when admitting or hiring qualified applicants."

David Duke, a controversial figure from Louisiana was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1989.  During his term as a state legislator Duke claims he was the first to "demand an end to the pervasive, anti-white discrimination called 'affirmative action'."  Duke proposed legislation in 1990 he claims was "the first challenge by a legislative body to the tyranny of 'affirmative action.'"  He lost a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1990.  Duke is currently President of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization. 

Ron Austin is a New Orleans native and an attorney with the law firm of Spears & Spears. Austin--who is a former Assistant District Attorney--specializes in environmental litigation and was part of a legal team that secured the largest jury award in history for land contamination against an oil company. 

The American Civil Liberties Union, founded in 1920 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan entity, stands as our nation’s oldest guardian of liberty, working daily in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.  The ACLU of Louisiana started in 1956 and carries out the ACLU’s mission at the state level.