A British billionaire businessman has ripped affirmative action as being “dangerous for society” — and suggested that the Black Lives Matter movement may have created “more bigotry.”
“I’m not very keen on unbalancing society by having quotas,” John Caudwell, the founder of the UK chain of cellphone stores, Phones 4u, told The Times of London.
“I always think the best person should win, whether they’re black, white, male or female,” said Caudwell, who is estimated to be worth $3.1 billion and claims to be the UK’s biggest taxpayer.
“I don’t like positive discrimination … I think positive discrimination is dangerous for society,” he told the Times Education Commission, a year-long study into whether radical change is needed in UK education.
“It leads to resentment and I’ve witnessed that a lot.
“Did Black Lives Matter improve the cause of black people, or did it cause more resentment and more bigotry? That’s a good debate to have,” he insisted.
“I’m not into positive discrimination, but I am into creating opportunities as much as possible for people,” he said.
Despite his criticism, Caudwell conceded that he understood “where it comes from,” suggesting it could work in extreme circumstances.
“I understand there’s a time and a place where that is beneficial, for instance [in] post-apartheid in South Africa,” he said.
Caudwell also ripped the UK education system for having “brainwashed” children into thinking they needed a degree to get a job — as well as pushing them into universities just to “get them off the dole,” referring to the UK term for unemployment benefits.