"Randal, You're Hired! Now, Can You Give A [White] Girl The Hook-Up?"

Alfred Edmond of Black Enterprise magazine writes about last week's finale of "The Apprentice": "Of course Randal won. Randal was the best qualified candidate on paper at the beginning of the competition (in fact, he is arguably overqualified). And his performance during Trump's '13-week job interview' was superior to Rebecca's - and all of the other candidates. In fact, in terms of both education and task performance, Randal is the best qualified of all the candidates of the first four iterations of The Apprentice. By contrast, Rebecca is not even among the top five performers among the 18 candidates of The Apprentice 4. In fact, Rebecca only made the finals due to luck and the support of Randal in her lone project manager victory on the Microsoft Office Live Meeting task in Episode 10. That's why it was totally unfair for Trump to put Randal on the spot by asking him to consider sharing the spoils of victory with Rebecca. And now, because Randal refused to do so, his victory is in danger of being irreparably tarnished by those people attacking him for claiming the victory he rightfully earned. A truly hateful Website has been created with the sole purpose of attacking and criticizing Randal for daring to deny Rebecca a job she didn't earn (http://www.firerandal.com/). And MSNBC contributor Andy Dehnart calls Randal 'selfish' for not agreeing that Rebecca should be rewarded (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10485160/from/ET/). The message is clear: We finally let one of you black people win. Where is your gratitude? Once again, when it comes to hiring black people, we not only have to be qualified, we have to be overqualified. It's all about meritocracy-unless and until the black person is proven to be the most qualified. Randal proved that he is the most qualified. Rebecca did not. Rebecca does not deserve to be The Apprentice (or an apprentice) because she did not earn the job. Randal was absolutely right to say so. In fact, African Americans-and anyone who really believes in meritocracy - should have been bursting with pride and cheering out loud (I know I was) that Randal had the courage to stand his ground, to say what is right and true, not what is popular. In fact, at that moment, Randal paid tribute the legacy of another high-achieving, uncompromising African American Rhodes Scholar and Rutgers alum-the great Paul Robeson. It was precisely then that I officially approved of Randal as a role model for my kids."

Similar to what I wrote last week about race, meritocracy, and affirmative action and how white folks rig the rules to protect their own. I finally got around to seeing the finale. And (white) folks booed loudly at Randal, as he gave his meritocratic recommendation that there should only be one apprentice. Even though Randal possessed the superior win-loss record (an undefeated one), far better credentials, much more real-life experience, and Rebecca raised zero money in the finale, white folks still expected him to share his victory with her. I'm waiting to hear from more conservatives crying foul about this attempted affirmative action move by Donald Trump. I won't hold my breath though.