The Supreme Court's Ignorance

??????It has been a few weeks since the Supreme Court issued its affirmative action decisions in cases involving admissions at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.

???????????Immediately after the decisions were issued, the usual battle lines were drawn among conservative and liberal commentators, each asserting that the decision would lead to societal chaos or avoid it entirely. I’m not so sure either view is accurate. I think most Americans have mixed feelings about affirmative action because it has always been an imperfect response to the scourge of slavery and its centuries-long aftermath.

???????????On the one hand, basing decisions upon race seems inherently unjust. Why should race matter in areas where merit should be determinative? On the other hand, how do we as a society remedy the institutionalized racism that characterized our systems for centuries and prevented qualified individuals from opportunity and advancement? Don’t we have to tilt the playing field back the other way after forcing Black men and women and other minorities to play uphill for centuries?

???????????From a macro perspective it is vital to ensure that the playing field is level for all and that opportunities are earned based on merit. But in order to account for the inequality that endured for centuries, it is also important to give those folks who still suffer from the results of ingrained racism and bigotry a leg up.

???????????It is far too simple to say, as the Supreme Court majority did, that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th?Amendment is intended to “do away will all governmentally imposed discrimination based on race.”

???????????Let’s be honest: the governmentally-imposed discrimination based on race that the 14th?Amendment intended to eliminate was white majority discrimination toward the Black minority. Historically, white Americans have never been systemically subjected to institutional discrimination by a Black majority government or corporate class. There has never been a Black majority government or corporate class. The white Americans have always made the rules, and those rules historically and disproportionately negatively impacted our Black neighbors. Ignoring that ultimate reality is disingenuous.

???????????My understanding of the 14th?Amendment always was that the majority should not be able to give itself an advantage by discriminating against the minority in housing, employment, or educational decisions.

???????????I think most Americans abhor our country’s legacy of slavery and its aftermath. Still, I also think few of us are willing to engage in a fair reckoning over that legacy. The playing field is not level, and when leveling it comes at a cost to any of our individual interests – a promotion at work, acceptance at an Ivy League university – we instinctively rebel and demand fairness. There is nothing unusual about that. None of us should individually have to carry the burden of a legacy of injustice.

???????????And that is where the conflict arises. Should an historically-oppressed minority class be given enhanced opportunity to make up for past inequities? Most justice-minded Americans would agree. Should I be required to give up my seat at the table for a lesser-, or equally-, qualified, historically-oppressed minority person? That is a much harder sell.

???????????The Supreme Court’s decision does not solve the problem. It ignores it.