Can we talk about affirmative action??

I wanted to share a personal story, hopefully underlining affirmative action’s vital role - still - while divorced from the politically charged and hyperbolic language that upends the online world.?

The Supreme Court's June decision on Affirmative Action is old news, as news cycles go, a landmark decision amid the so-called culture wars. But it has stuck with me for the following weeks, restoked by some of the dialogue during and after the presidential debate. Despite the political sensitivity around the topics, I felt compelled to write this piece, told from a distinctly personal point of view.?

There is little ambivalence; you're either in favor or against it. At the moment, polling suggests that most are against the decision, though not by a wide margin. A June Pew Research poll shortly after the decision indicated that 54% of American adults are against it and 43% in favor.?

The good news for those in favor is that the decision is focused narrowly on university admissions and does not rule on corporate programs. But small comfort, given the political environment, it's only a matter of time before a corporate case is brought forward, using the latest ruling as a precedent.

It seems a decided step backward, though hardly surprising given the current cultural realities.

I am a beneficiary of affirmative action, beginning with my dad, who was part of one of the first waves of Affirmative Action hires at IBM in the early '60s. He joined with an engineering degree from Howard University and a real knack for numbers and people.?

As I researched this piece, I found that IBM had a surprising history of hiring diverse employees. In 1943, Ruth Leach Amonette became the company's first female vice president. In 1953, IBM became one of the first companies to include sexual orientation in its nondiscrimination policy. This included the vendors as well as hiring practices. Still, just under 2% of its workforce was black in 1960. It was in part pressure from the Federal government, and the Kennedy administration in particular, which instigated new Civil Rights legislation in 1961 preventing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Community pressure also encouraged a more inclusive hiring strategy.?

My father's employment there and later success as a middle manager opened up many opportunities for our family: private university education, summer sports camps, music and art classes, and trips to NYC, Philadelphia, and DC, where we were sure to take advantage of the surfeit of museums, galleries, and theater. It also helped ignite an aspirational urge in me and my brother. We were told, "You can be anything you want to be, and we largely believed it, though we discovered that there was some fine print."

Later, my nearly 20-year career as a Boston banker got kicked off thanks to a First National Bank of Boston summer internship program, which hoped to attract ‘qualified’ minority candidates in their junior years at university. 'The First' as it was known, chartered in 1784, was one of the first nationally chartered banks in the United States (there was a bit of a running argument between those who worked at The First and the Bank of New York also established in 1784.). The First had a well-known and well-respected training program for commercial loan officers, considered a possible ticket to the C-suite and at least into very respected senior roles.?

I had no clue why banking might be an exciting career choice until then. It simply never existed as an option discussed around the dinner table when I was a young teen; those weren't jobs that black people got - the fine print. It turned out to be an excellent choice and an outstanding career.

In the 70s and 80s, Boston struggled to lose its image as a place unfriendly to blacks - its reputation had become an international embarrassment, and neighborhoods like South Boston ('Southie') and Charlestown were especially prone to labeling as racist enclaves. As comedian Bill Burr recently said, Boston had all the quaint-ness of San Francisco, but it was a place where you were more likely to hear a sprinkling of the n-word.?

Boston had a highly charged and divisive past well known for the "forced busing" conflict of the 70's. Local and state pols knew improvements were needed if they were going to keep up as a destination for global commerce, technology, and students, the latter category arguably its most valuable export.?

Ironically, one of the leading local pols was a Boston city councilor named Ray Flynn (white), often depicted as a vocal opponent to forced busing and the push toward full integration of the Boston school system. He would later become known as a champion for the little guy and all backgrounds as the long-time mayor of Boston (he served three terms), perhaps one of the great political reversals in Boston’s long and storied history.?

When I went to Babson College for my undergraduate degree in 1978, 20 minutes from downtown Boston, I remember the perhaps overegged danger of being caught in 'Southie' (South Boston) or Charlestown as a black student on a Friday or Saturday night. But make no mistake, despite all of its colleges and universities, Boston had a decidedly unwelcoming feel for people of color in many neighborhoods.?

At Celtics games - I became a devoted fan - I could count the number of black faces in the crowd on one raised arm, even during the glory years of black players Dennis Johnson, Robert Parrish, Cedric Maxwell, and Coach K.C. Jones. Despite a long list of accomplished black and brown players, Red Sox games were the same.? And I certainly heard the n-word many times mentioned with the casualness Bill Burr intimated that shocked me, undoubtedly many more times than I had heard it growing up in upstate New York.

The First became a bastion of privilege and power for the so-called 'Boston Brahmin' class.? That led to an uber-exclusive financial club where, in 1982, they still had a special dining room for bank officers - substantial mahogany and leather chairs were the vibe - and a special dining room for entertaining clients on the 36th floor. For a young college graduate in a town dominated by its bulging edifice (to locals, it was known as the ‘pregnant building’ owing to its unique design) and influence, it was considered a plum spot.?

The Vault, a now-defunct group of Boston's most powerful business and institutional leaders, and other centers of influence were determined to change Boston's reputation. Many of its largest corporations made a pointed effort to attract more minorities. It was a stubborn reputation for sure, and one that remained even after we came to the UK in 1998 but made gradual if uneven improvements highlighted by Massachusetts' first black governor, Deval Patrick in 2007, who served two terms (interesting fact: he also worked for a very brief time in 1979 at The First before attending Harvard Law School in the very same management training program that I joined), and Boston’s first Asian American Mayor, Michelle Wu who was elected in 2021.?

Change takes time.

Though I had done well in my undergraduate studies, certainly on a par with many of those who joined the ‘Loan Officer Development Program,’ as it was called, I would likely have gone in an entirely different direction without the Bank’s outreach.??

The Bank, in the senior ranks, was a reflection of the privileged classes that lived in Back Bay or Beacon Hill or of those from established, leafy suburbs like Weston, Wellesley, Dover, Brookline, and Concord. The banking industry was already known as an industry ruled by a clubby and exclusive culture. Boston’s insularity took it to another level. Ironically, there were notable exceptions: Bill Brown, the President when I joined, an Irishman from North Carolina; Ira Stepanian, the CEO during the late 80s, an Armenian’ and last but not least, Henrique Meirelles, a Brazilian from Sau Paolo who became President in the early 90’s. Some would say the exceptions that proved the rule.

Lasting and near-term change would need more than a gentle nudge.

But I knew, back in 1997, when Deval Patrick had gone on to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division under Bill Clinton, that today's volte-face would come. After years of Affirmative Action programs, many in the majority would get tired of the helping hand, especially during economic and social unrest. I knew we would hear growing complaints from people who perceived a loss of opportunities for qualified majority candidates and the lament of assistance that had gone on long enough; the injustices of slavery were so long ago, surely we can’t continue to argue for redress forever and ever.?

And now that there appears to be progress, more people of color in leadership roles and many with significant wealth, surely it's time to move on.

Of course, what I find enduringly ironic is that affirmative action has long existed, long before the affirmative action legislation of the early '60s, but less formal and pointed in different directions. The First tapped a steady pipeline from schools like Harvard, Boston College, Bowdoin, Amherst, Williams and Tufts, and other New England institutions with elite reputations - finishing schools for the ruling class at the time. I always find it both comical and horrifying to read JFK’s undergraduate essay seeking enrollment at Harvard. In case you haven’t seen it, it's a must-reading:

The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university. I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a "Harvard man" is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain.

April 23, 1935 John F. Kennedy

Complete with the tip to his application reviewer that he was a legacy applicant. He, of all people, best understood his privilege as it compared to others less favored and a part of his drive to lead fundamental change, including the Affirmative Action program that began during his short time in the office.?

At the First, state schools were rarely in evidence. Irish Catholics were in great abundance, especially in certain business lines. Businesses hired according to look, family background, family relationship, social status, schooling, etc. While there are those jobs where the need for test scores and special qualifications were more abundantly clear, there were many like banking where words like ‘fit’ and ‘culture’ were as important if not more important than academic qualifications. That is not to suggest that fit and culture aren’t important. Still, most people reading this article will know examples when the fit or culture consideration bubbled over into more pernicious discriminatory practices.

On the time question, how long might affirmative action programs be required, the response,’ How long is a piece of string?’. The legacy of slavery extends far; 150 years is only six generations, not long when one looks at oral and cultural traditions. Though long when considering the distance white landowners and their families came over those six generations. Not long when one thinks back to the racial strife of the 1960s and the soft racism of low expectations that hung like an anchor around the neck of the "negro". Long when considering the lack of black representation in senior positions in corporations and government.?

It seems inevitable that demographics and the continuing labor scarcity for many jobs make the push for diversity an increasingly compelling business proposition and strategy. I won’t cite the overwhelming evidence supporting the diversity of all types at all employment levels. That Justice Thomas was a part of the majority opinion is beyond ironic; a man whose presence on the court was at least partially the result of an affirmative political strategy.

But we have to visualize what the end state looks like. At what point can we safely eliminate Federal imperatives around race, ethnicity, and gender (while we’re at it)? I don’t have the answer, but it seems clear that we need to have a clear end state in mind as we continue, hopefully, to move toward the promised land.

Postscript

In doing a bit of research for this piece, I learned history that I was not aware of as it relates to The First:

The First National Bank of Boston (FNBB) was founded in 1784 and was one of the oldest and largest banks in the United States. In the 1960s and 1970s, the bank was accused of discrimination against black customers and employees. In 1970, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed a lawsuit against the bank, alleging that it had discriminated against black applicants for loans and jobs. The case, United States v. First National Bank of Boston, went to trial in 1973.

The government's case was based on the fact that the FNBB had a long history of discriminatory lending practices. For example, the bank had redlined Boston, meaning it had refused to make loans in predominantly black neighborhoods. The government also presented evidence that the FNBB had discriminated against black employees in hiring and promotion.

The FNBB fought the case vigorously, but in 1974, a federal judge ruled in favor of the government. The judge found that the FNBB had engaged in "systematic and intentional" discrimination against black customers and employees. The judge ordered the bank to implement affirmative action measures, including hiring more black employees and making more loans to black businesses.

The FNBB appealed the ruling, but in 1977, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision. The Supreme Court's ruling was a landmark victory for civil rights and affirmative action. It established that banks could be liable for discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The FNBB implemented the affirmative action measures ordered by the court, and the bank's workforce became more diverse. In 1999, the FNBB merged with Fleet Financial Group to form FleetBoston Financial. In 2004, FleetBoston Financial was acquired by Bank of America.

The First National Bank of Boston case was a major turning point in the fight against discrimination in the banking industry. The case helped to ensure that banks would be held accountable for their discriminatory practices, and it helped to pave the way for more diversity in the banking workforce.

Final note: This piece was written and researched with the help of AI.?

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