It’s All Even Now

Law of the Land

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas achieved a life goal yesterday.  He joined the six vote majority opinion of “our” Trump Supreme Court. In the Harvard case, they voted to end affirmative action programs in colleges in the United States. Justice Thomas got his wish (a companion to Chief Justice Roberts decimation of the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County decision).  The majority of the Court has declared that the Civil Rights Era is officially over.  It’s all “even-Steven” now.

The Court, of course, had to overturn precedent to reach this decision. Specifically in this case, they overturned the Baake ruling of 1978, and the University of Michigan ruling in 2003.  Both those cases affirmed that universities could specifically use race as a factor in the overall admission process.  But the conservative majority has now decided that the Baake and Michigan decisions were either wrongly decided, or that the Nation has “outgrown” the need for affirmative action.

To be clear, the Court implied it’s still possible to consider an applicant’s race in the admission process. If, in an essay, the applicant explained that racial issues were a “problem” for them to overcome, then admissions could consider it.  As Roberts said; if overcoming a chronically ill parent, or a financially destitute upbringing could be considered; then overcoming race-created barriers can be “noted” in essay form.

But the “law of the land” in college admissions from today forward is this:  everyone is equal.  College admissions are now officially “color-blind”.  The fact that equality of education is, in fact, demonstrably not racially equal doesn’t seem to matter to the Justices.  They are willing to ignore history and our current society to achieve the outcome they want. It sounds a lot like another case the Court decided – Plessy v Ferguson. That one said that separate facilities could be equal, even though they weren’t.

Call Them Out

I’m not calling Clarence Thomas out for this one (though there’s a whole lot of other things I would call him out for, including accepting millions of dollars’ worth of gifts).  Thomas has held a steady position his entire career.  He thinks that affirmative action is somehow degrading, making majority students look down on minority students.  And he’s right about one thing, this decision will change that.  There simply won’t be as many minority students to look down on anymore.  See, problem solved.

However, I am calling out Chief Justice Roberts, who simply has a wrong view of history. He believes that somehow, with a wave of his “Chief Justice Pen”, he can make America “color-blind”. Or, as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said:

“With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces ‘colorblindness for all’ by legal fiat”.

Former Vice President Pence said it “best”, showing that he is a “let them eat cake, oblivious, white man.

“There may have been a time, fifty years ago, when we needed to affirmatively take steps to correct long-term racial bias in institutions of higher education. But I can tell you as the father of three college graduates (author’s note: white college graduates), those days are long over.”

Personally, I’m all in favor of even competition.  But, like fifty years ago, there is one race that has a significant educational advantage.  And I’m not talking about folks with Oriental backgrounds.

What it Is

Nope, I’m calling it for what it is.  White folks still have significant educational advantages, whether they believe it or not.   Look at these of statistics from Ohio.

Here’s the list of the ten lowest performing school districts in Ohio;

• 607 – East Cleveland               98% Black, 1 % White,  1 % Other
• 606 – Youngstown Public      55% Black, 22% Hispanic, 13% White, 10% other
• 605 – Lockland                         47% Black, 29 % White, 12% Hispanic, 12% other
• 604 – Trotwood Madison       87% Black, 6% White, 7% other
• 603 – Garfield Heights             77% Black, 14% White, 9% other
• 602 – Dayton Public                 65% Black, 23% White, 12% Other
• 601 – Jefferson Township       75% Black, 14% White, 11% other
• 600 – Mt Healthy                     69% Black, 12% White, 19% Other
• 598 – Lorain                             44% Hispanic, 26% Black, 21% White, 9% other
• 598 – Canton                    38% White, 37% Black, 17% Multi-Racial, 8% Hispanic

And here’s the ten highest performing school districts in Ohio;

• 1 – Solon                                 54% White, 22% Asian, 16% Black, 10% other
• 2 – Rocky River                        89% White, 4% Hispanic, 11% other
• 3 – Chagrin Falls                      90% White, 4% Black, 6% other
• 3 – Mariemont                        92% White, 8% other
• 5 – Marion (Mercer)*              98% White, 2% other
• 6 –  Minster*                            97% White, 3% other
• 7 – Versailles*                         99% White, 1% other
• 8 – Ft Loramie*                       99% White, 1% other
• 8 – Oakwood                           82% White, 6% Hispanic, 6% Multi-Racial, 6% other
• 10 – West Geauga                   92% White, 4% Hispanic, 4% other
• *Small rural school districts in Western Ohio

Quality of Education

There are lots of reasons, many financial, that determine how a school performs on state standards.  And there are lots of questions about what the state “standards” really measure.  But one thing is apparent:  high performing schools are overwhelmingly white, low performing schools are overwhelmingly minority.  It’s not about the race of the kids, it’s about the quality of the education they are receiving.  To take the graduates of those schools, and then require them to be all “even-Steven” seems more than absurd.  It seems intentionally cruel, and intentionally designed to maintain the status quo for both races.

To put it bluntly, a black kid who graduates from Youngstown with great test scores, ought to get an advantage over a white kid from Oakwood with the same scores. The Youngstown kid had to overcome a lot more educational “adversity” to get there.   And that’s what affirmative action did, recognized that the same test scores might not recognize the same amount of effort, or determination, or ability.

Society’s Problem

Justice Thomas complained that affirmative action was trying to solve “societal problems”, not just “educational problems”.  There are two answers to that complaint.  First, as demonstrated above, affirmative action might well be determining who the “best” student really is, by looking at what they had to overcome.  Sure, essays might do that as well, but 57,000 students apply to Harvard each year, for only 1,942 positions.  There’s always essays to read, but that’s further down the admission process.  How many minority students now won’t even make the first cut?

And second, why shouldn’t our universities try to help solve our societal problems?  The average black family earns $46,400 a year, the average white family makes almost $80,000.  Education and income are directly correlated (that’s why poor urban areas don’t have great schools).  Don’t our universities, and particularly our top schools like Harvard, have an obligation to the nation to try to improve that situation?  The Supreme Court has weighed in with a resounding, NO.

The MAGA mantra is:  no political correctness, no Black Lives Matter, no Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the educational process.  They want “our” culture to go back to Mr. Pence’s fifty years, (I’d say closer to sixty).  They want their kids (white) to keep their educational advantage.  And the Supreme Court affirmed that mantra.  It’s all “even-Steven” now.

The kids that live in Lockland, Ohio (rated 605) live two train tracks from where I went to high school in Wyoming, Ohio (rated 26^th, 76% White, 11% Black, 13% others).  Their educational future is literally determined by being “on the other side of the tracks”.  And now, the Supreme Court has made it even more likely that it will stay that way.

“Even-Steven”?  It’s not even close.