The Decimation of Affirmative Action

Yesterday the Supreme Court dealt yet another devastating blow to social justice and equal protection in ruling that affirmative action is unconstitutional. It feels like a nail in the coffin of our collective attempts to equalize access to higher education–and by extension–larger opportunities for upward mobility. Make no mistake: this ruling will have (and is clearly designed to have) far-reaching ramifications for decades to come, undercutting the lifeline to higher education for countless people of color, in yet another bold-faced example of society-wide opportunity hoarding.

As an advocate and career coach for women of color, I cannot emphasize enough the harm that this decision is poised to inflict on our communities for generations to come.

Equally infuriating is the fact that we’d be hard-pressed to describe this decision as surprising in any way. For decades, the Supreme Court has been chipping away at affirmative action; its outcome-oriented goals have been clear. Beyond the Court itself, time and again, those in power have proven that they will do whatever it takes to protect their own interests–at the detriment of those who have been sidelined and marginalized, historically and on an ongoing basis.

This decision is a glaring example of gatekeeping, opportunity hoarding, legacy protection, and structural safeguarding of privilege, status, and access at the cost of fairness, equity, and equality. And it’s a stomach-churning reminder that justice isn’t blind; the scales are weighed in favor of the powerful.

As demoralizing as this may feel, as individuals, we cannot give up on our efforts. We have to continue to demand accountability from institutions of power, to respect the will of the people. While this ruling is a major setback, it only underscores how crucial it is that we keep fighting relentlessly for justice, access, and equal opportunity. We know we can’t trust institutions to do right by us. That means it’s our collective responsibility to keep pushing, keep fighting, and keep advocating for what is just and fair–in all spaces we inhabit, large and small.

I cannot agree more with what Justices Sotomayor and Brown Jackson wrote in their separate dissents. As the former wrote, “Today, this Court stands in the way and rolls back decades of precedent and momentous progress. It holds that race can no longer be used in a limited way in college admissions to achieve such critical benefits. In so holding, the Court cements a superficial rule of colorblindness as a constitutional principle in an endemically segregated society where race has always mattered and continues to matter.”

As the latter pointed out, “Our country has never been colorblind. If the colleges of this country are required to ignore a thing that matters, it will not just go away. It will take longer for racism to leave us. And, ultimately, ignoring race just makes it matter more.”

Both Justices sum up the profound disappointment we feel and the deep-rooted problems with the majority opinion. As they say, “colorblindness,” is being leveraged as cover for policy-based exclusion based on people’s race.

This ruling is a stark reminder of how we continue to face an uphill battle on what feels like quicksand when it comes to the struggle for racial justice and equal opportunity in this country. It is a call to arms for all of us who believe in the power of diverse lived experiences, the necessity of inclusion, and the essential role that affirmative action plays in moving the needle on racial and social justice.

As a career coach and advocate for women of color, I have dedicated myself to ensuring that individual WOCs and POCs are equipped to navigate this challenging landscape, secure the money, power, and respect they deserve, and do what they can to take on systemic barriers that persist in our society. The fight is far from over, and the journey may be long, but together we must look to each other for much-needed support as we keep pushing for change and progress, however hard it may be.