Affirmative Action

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Affirmative action means that among a pool of equally qualified candidates for college admission or employment, precedence can be given to members of a disadvantaged group, in the US usually African Americans, Latinx or Native Americans. Over the years the courts have restricted this preference, but now the US Supreme Court has outlawed it. The reasoning is that affirmative action programs do not treat citizens equally, violating the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which ironically was designed to uphold civil rights for African Americans. The problem with this reasoning is that due to the heritage of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and discrimination, racial minorities have suffered in their pursuit of advancement in the US and may need an extra boost to be able to move ahead. Justice Roberts in his majority decision against affirmative action implied that there was perhaps justification for affirmative action in the past, but that “the time for making decisions based on race had passed.”

In 1996 California banned affirmative action in higher education: minority admissions dropped nearly 50% at UCLA and UC Berkeley. This Supreme Court decision will no doubt have a discouraging effect on minority efforts in education. But the main point is this: do we want to give up a tool to deal with the massive inequality which is plaguing our country? 

Sources: The Guardian, and The New York Times, both 6/29/23