“For people on the left... blacks are trophies or mascots, and must therefore be put on display. Nowhere is that more true than in politics. The problem with being a mascot is that you are a symbol of someone else’s significance or virtue. The actual well-being of a mascot is not the point. Liberals all across the country have not hesitated to destroy black neighborhoods in the name of ‘urban renewal,’ often replacing working-class neighborhoods with upscale homes and pricey businesses—neither of which the former residents can afford. In academia, lower admissions standards for black students is about having them as a visible presence, even if mismatching them with the particular college or university produces high dropout rates. The black students who don’t make it are replaced by others, and when many of them don’t make it, there are still more others. The point is to have black faces on campus, as mascots symbolizing what great people there are running the college or university... Politicians who use blacks as mascots do not hesitate to throw blacks to the wolves for the benefit of the teachers’ unions, the green zealots whose restrictions make housing unaffordable, or people who keep low-price stores like Wal-Mart out of their cities. Using human beings as mascots is not idealism. It is self-aggrandizement that is ugly in both its concept and its consequences.” —Thomas Sowell