It’s funny, but I was hesitant before putting “pen to paper” with respect to the issue I’m about to dive into. The humor comes from the fact that generally, I feel free opening my mouth and letting my thoughts spill out. Yes, I consider myself to be a mindful human, but I am not usually afraid to share my opinion. In this case, my hesitancy has less to do with my concern about what people might think and much more to do with my lack of education and understanding.
As we’ve explored before, I am a middle-class white woman. Outside of a rudimentary, self-imposed education, I don’t have the most robust understanding of the nuances of affirmative action and therefore, the implications of its overturning. I can tell you that when I first heard of the Court’s decision, my reaction was split, as follows:
1. Fuck those fucking motherfuckers. Why are these insane loons setting the United States back to the 1950s?!
2. I suppose the onus to do better is going to have to come from the institutions of higher learning.
Then, a million other thoughts flooded my brain. And while I’m not going to share all of them, I thought it might be good to share a few.
I stand by the notion that I no longer have any confidence in the highest levels of the United States’ judiciary. This pains me greatly, as I want to, but alas, I can’t. Given the violation of women’s rights and the trampled rights of the LGBTQ+ community, there’s little credit I can give to that robed group of humans. I wish I could say that I didn’t agree with their decisions, but I understand them on some fundamental level, but what it really feels like are swift steps towards the Dark Ages, propelled entirely by a religiously based, conservative ideology that punishes everyone who isn’t a white, heterosexual male Christian.
I said it. I don’t like them. I don’t respect them. I am terrified of them and the power they wield.
I also stand behind my second thought, the idea that in the face of these kind of heinous rulings, we are going to have to do better as a society. When a business is given the right by our government to be hateful and discriminatory, we have to use our freedom of speech and exercise of capitalism to support other, more open-minded people and businesses (ideally, to put those jokers out of business). When universities and colleges do not have the obligation to consider and include BIPOC, then they are just going to have to do better to explore sound and unfailing methods for identifying, recruiting, and supporting a variety of students from every race and background.
Before I go any further, I do want to share that I read a shit ton about affirmative action. I still know less than 5%, but I thought it responsible to study a little before asserting my opinion. Imagine that (smirk)?
I read a variety of different source materials, from news to educational journals to book excerpts to blogs, and one of the blurbs that stuck with me was as follows: “The remediating function of affirmative action was reborn in the 1960s, shortly before the Fair Housing Act of 1968, partly because redlining and housing inequality were widening the wealth gap between Black and white Americans, the children of white homeowners grooved into a much easier path to college” (https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/supreme-court-affirmative-action-asian-discrimination.html).
I am sure you have your own views about the application and efficacy and spirit of affirmative action, but I’m inviting you to process that sentiment. Affirmative action was created to write a wrong. It was not designed to create unfair opportunity or give folks an unearned advantage or any of the other garbage nonsense that people claim. It was created to give people a chance that they wouldn’t get otherwise.
I am pretty vocal about that (see above) kind of opportunity creation in the most general sense. I’m sure I’ve written about it on the blog before. We have historically passed laws to help provide opportunities for folks of different genders and races and ethnicities and religions. Of course, we are now overturning them all, but, still, they were mostly born from the idea that change is warranted.
I think what they fail to do is correct the underlying issue. Yes, I said it. They aren’t actually fixing the problems. They are bandages. Think about it. If affirmative action worked the way in which it was intended (see previously shared quote) would it need to go on for the rest of time? If it REALLY worked, wouldn’t the situation eventually rectify where a law would become unnecessary?
Let me give an example in a different but related scenario. I had a bunch of white dudes I work with and around expressing agita over the laws in other states whereas company boards are required to seat a certain number of women and people of color. Most of the ranting circled around the notion that companies should be free to pick the most qualified human and should not be cornered into selecting a director based on some pre-determined factor.
After I finished wiping their white man tears off the floor, and tightening the strings on their teeny violins, I explained that the idea is not to bring on board folks who aren’t qualified. The idea is to search beyond the white, male candidates that might be more at their disposal. And yes, sometimes the white male candidate is the most qualified, and then, they should get the position, but that decision should be made while looking at a full spectrum of candidates.
But here’s the real issue I don’t often share with folks like I just described (because they often don’t care or don’t try to care): board directors are often members of management or directors at other companies, and minorities and women are disproportionately overlooked for those roles and therefore, would have less of a chance of even swimming in the candidate pool. Do you see where I’m going with this? We don’t really need to put more people of color and women on boards. I mean, we do, but that’s not really the issue. The issue is opportunity at the ground level. And I don’t just mean work. Yes, in the occupational setting, women and people of color are paid less, promoted less, and overlooked more. It’s more than that though. So much more…
This goes back to school. And no, I don’t mean higher education. I mean primary and secondary education. I mean the public school system in this country. That’s the base of it all. That’s the racially charged and sexist springboard for all of this garbage.
Am I pissed that affirmative action was overturned? You bet your ass I am. But not because I think it addresses or handles the REAL problem. I’m angry because it sends a message. It sends a heaping spoonful of support for the hateful, bigots all over this country and frankly, all over the world. However, I don’t need to sit in a place of rage to be effective. In fact, that’s my least productive zone. Rather, I want to channel that energy into hope and action.
Let’s get at this problem where it really lives, shall we? Hold your local representatives accountable. Hold your public-school officials accountable. We need to rethink redistricting and other school policies, ensure inclusivity and equality of opportunity in education, and force goal setting and tracking. I can’t do shit about our shitty Justices, but I can absolutely push to vote out local shitheads that don’t support a well-rounded and inclusive education for all.
Just a thought on the cusp of the day where we celebrate being able to make all these shitty decisions for ourselves.
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