It’s understandable why affirmative action is a controversial subject. In our deeply divided nation – oftentimes on the issue of race – it can be seen as a necessary method to bring some fairness to an unfair system, all the way to a free pass to a minority over a more-deserving white person.
And the frustration of a white student who fails to gain admission to a place like Harvard despite having the credentials to do so is also understandable when he knows a similarly qualified minority student beat him out with the difference being the color of their skin.
But this is bigger than one person, and the Supreme Court’s decision to once again jettison settled law to push their conservative ideological agenda is even more damaging when you realize the same conservatives in our country who called for the end of affirmative action have no interest in addressing the issues that make it necessary in the first place.
And the highest court’s hypocrisy in saying you can’t use race in the admissions process, but you can still favor legacy students and athletes, says the only unfair practice it sees is the one where the minority student gets in, not a less deserving white kid whose parents went to the same school, or the jock who can help the school win more games.
Slavery has rightfully been called our country’s “original sin.” It surely was the starting point that got us here, along with all the other laws and practices that have held back minorities.
But, for right now, let’s just look at where we are today, where so many minorities face economic and educational disadvantages compared to white folks in general. There are kids out there who can go to places like Harvard and succeed, but they’re held back by things like inadequately funded schools and poverty.
They aren’t in the gleaming suburban high schools that offer college placement courses. Their parents can’t afford to hire tutors to help them get higher scores on the college boards. And it’s hard to do your homework when you don’t have enough to eat or you hear gunshots outside your home at night.
These kids deserve a chance. A chance for those who have the ability and work ethic to succeed. We’re not talking about handouts to undeserving kids. I doubt Harvard is letting in minorities who have no chance to last even one semester.
Conservatives and others, including many Republican politicians, cry how unfair something like affirmative action is, but they’ll fight like hell against trying to level the playing field for these young people. I guess fairness is a one-way street for them.
They’re always angling to cut our social safety net. Things like making sure poor schools have adequate funding, that kids can live in a decent home with enough to eat. Hell, how about just universal pre-K to at least try to get everyone off on the right foot.
Instead, their answer is school vouchers. Here parents, take the money and run off to a private school while the kids left behind face even bigger obstacles. Government – federal, state, and local – has an obligation to provide “public” education to the children in this country. Passing the buck with vouchers is nothing more that abdicating that responsibility.
Sure, there’re a lot of rags-to-riches stories out there, and they deserve credit for that, but that doesn’t excuse an overall system that stacks the odds against minorities and the poor.
This country is never going to be totally fair to minorities. It’s too big, with too many disinterested people to ever reach that point. But, as we shut still other door to minority students with the Supreme Court’s latest terrible decision, our failure to see and address the root of the problem will be an even greater injustice to today’s minorities and the generations that will follow them.
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Musings of a Nobody 