Tag: racism

Is Affirmative Action “Racist”?

Is Affirmative Action “racist”?

Conservative media commentators frequently label Affirmative Action as “racist”. I understand why they want to do this. They are applying a word that has a negative connotation to a policy they don’t like. Nevertheless, that label is neither accurate nor helpful. Racism is essentially defined as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group”. The important words are prejudice, discrimination, and antagonism. Affirmative action policies did distinguish Afro-Americans from other races, but was it was designed to help level the playing field for black Americans, not to implement prejudice against them. Applicants from other ethnicities were at a relative disadvantage, but it was usually minor. This was an unintentional consequence and is sometimes known as collateral damage.

It is helpful to look at collateral damage in similar situations. Whenever an organization gives a benefit to a certain category of people, those not in that category are at a relative disadvantage, but this is not necessarily “wrong”. For example, many restaurants give a “Senior Citizen” discount to customers who have reached a certain age (usually 62 or 65). Younger customers pay more than senior citizens for the exact same meal, but we don’t denounhce this preference based on age as “age-ist”.

Many people acknowledge “financial need” as a valid criterion for considering educational scholarships. As a result, richer students pay more than students with financial aid scholarships for the same education. Should we label this collateral damage based on financial need as “classist”? Few would do so.

There might be valid reasons for opposing affirmative action, such as trying to demonstrate with evidence that the playing field has now become level. But just labeling it as racist is not accurate nor useful. May we use language in ways that enable good communication and not distort it.

Revisiting Affirmative Action: The Starting Point is Still Not the Same for Everyone

Last week I wrote “The Supreme Court: What Happened to Conservatives and Freedom?” on my blog in which I lamented the Supreme Court decision overturnng Affirmative Action and its negative decrease in freedom for private universities.

Several people responded and asked me questions about my post. I decided to write a follow up piece to further explain my reasoning.

Racial discrimination (the use of race or skin color to distinguish people) has generally been practiced in the United States to benefit some (usually white people) at the expense of others (people of color, especially African Americans). Centuries of slavery, Jim Crow laws, exclusion from elections, gerrymandering, “separate but equal” practices in education, exclusion from benefits of the G.I. Bill, Redlining, etc. have had horrible consequences for people of color. People like me (I am a white male of the upper middle class) have an unfair advantage in the race of life. We don’t all start at the same place.   Through no effort on my part, I began the race far ahead of many others.

Racial quotas and affirmative action were a different kind of racial discrimination. They used the race factor to partially offset the horrific consequences of historical racism in our country. They partially compensated for the sins of our past. They partially narrowed the gap at the starting point. They partially leveled the playing field. People of color have made significant gains in education, earnings, political life, etc., but I still have an unfair advantage.

The overturning of Affirmative Action by the Supreme Court last month essentially claimed that racial equality has already been achieved in our nation, that the starting point is the same for all people. This disregard for history and reality is blindness at best and probably contains some hypocrisy as well.

“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it” claimed Chief Justice writing for the majority position. He was arguing that we should be “color blind”. Nevertheless, he wasn’t being totally truthful, because federally funded military academies (such as West Point and the Air Force Academy) are permitted to continue considering race in admissions decisions. The reason? A vague statement that military academies may have “potentially distinct interests”. Military leaders argue that our nation needs officers who have educational experience in racially diverse settings. Business and political leaders make similar arguments.

My God is not “color blind”. Neither should we be “color blind”. We should acknowledge how racial distinctions have been used in the past to widen the gap.  Let us acknowledge racial distinctions now to narrow that gap. The soul-searching question for me, and for those like me, is whether we want to let go of our unfair advantages.