Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas achieved a life goal yesterday.\u00a0\u00a0He joined the six vote majority opinion of \u201cour\u201d Trump Supreme Court. In the Harvard <\/em>case, they voted to end affirmative action programs in colleges in the United States.\u00a0Justice Thomas got his wish (a companion to Chief Justice Roberts decimation of the Voting Rights Act in the Shelby County<\/em> decision).\u00a0\u00a0The majority of the Court has declared that the Civil Rights Era is officially over.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s all \u201ceven-Steven\u201d now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Court, of course, had to overturn precedent to reach this decision. Specifically in this case, they overturned the Baake<\/em> ruling of 1978, and the University of Michigan<\/em> ruling in 2003.\u00a0\u00a0Both those cases affirmed that universities could specifically use race as a factor in the overall admission process.\u00a0\u00a0But the conservative majority has now decided that the Baake<\/em> and Michigan<\/em> decisions were either wrongly decided, or that the Nation has \u201coutgrown\u201d the need for affirmative action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be clear, the Court implied it\u2019s still possible to consider an applicant\u2019s race in the admission process. If, in an essay, the applicant explained that racial issues were a \u201cproblem\u201d for them to overcome, then admissions could consider it.\u00a0\u00a0As Roberts said; if overcoming a chronically ill parent, or a financially destitute upbringing could be considered; then overcoming race-created barriers can be \u201cnoted\u201d in essay form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the \u201claw of the land\u201d in college admissions from today forward is this:\u00a0\u00a0everyone is equal.\u00a0\u00a0College admissions are now officially \u201ccolor-blind\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The fact that equality of education is, in fact, demonstrably not racially equal doesn\u2019t seem to matter to the Justices.\u00a0\u00a0They 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<\/em>. That one said that separate facilities could be equal, even though they weren’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not calling Clarence Thomas out for this one (though there\u2019s a whole lot of other things I would call him out for, including accepting millions of dollars\u2019 worth of gifts<\/em>).\u00a0\u00a0Thomas has held a steady position his entire career.\u00a0\u00a0He thinks that affirmative action is somehow degrading, making majority students look down on minority students.\u00a0\u00a0And he\u2019s right about one thing, this decision will change that.\u00a0\u00a0There simply won\u2019t be as many minority students to look down on anymore.\u00a0\u00a0See, problem solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulls the ripcord and announces \u2018colorblindness for all\u2019 by legal fiat\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Former Vice President Pence said it \u201cbest\u201d, showing that he is a “let them eat cake, oblivious, white man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere 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 (<\/em>author\u2019s note: white college graduates), those days are long over.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, I\u2019m all in favor of even competition.\u00a0\u00a0But, like fifty years ago, there is one race that has a significant educational advantage.\u00a0\u00a0And I\u2019m not talking about folks with Oriental backgrounds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Nope, I\u2019m calling it for what it is.\u00a0\u00a0White folks still have\u00a0significant educational advantages, whether they believe it or not.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Look at these of statistics from Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s the list of the ten lowest performing school districts in Ohio;<\/p>\n\n\n\n And here\u2019s the ten highest performing school districts in Ohio;<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are lots of reasons, many financial, that determine how a school performs on state standards.\u00a0\u00a0And there are lots of questions about what the state \u201cstandards\u201d really measure.\u00a0\u00a0But one thing is apparent:\u00a0\u00a0high performing schools are overwhelmingly white, low performing schools are overwhelmingly minority.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s not about the race of the kids, it\u2019s about the quality of the education they are receiving.\u00a0 To take the graduates of those schools, and then require them to be all \u201ceven-Steven\u201d seems more than absurd.\u00a0\u00a0It seems intentionally cruel, and intentionally designed to maintain the status quo for both races.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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 \u201cadversity\u201d to get there. And that\u2019s what affirmative action did, recognized that the same test scores might not recognize the same amount of effort, or determination, or ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Justice Thomas complained that affirmative action was trying to solve \u201csocietal problems\u201d, not just \u201ceducational problems\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0There are two answers to that complaint.\u00a0\u00a0First, as demonstrated above, affirmative action might well be determining who the \u201cbest\u201d student really<\/strong> is, by looking at what they had to overcome.\u00a0\u00a0Sure, essays might do that as well, but 57,000 students apply to Harvard each year, for only 1,942 positions.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s always essays to read, but that\u2019s further down the admission process.\u00a0\u00a0How many minority students now won\u2019t even make the first cut?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And second, why shouldn\u2019t our universities try to help solve our societal problems?\u00a0\u00a0The average black family earns $46,400 a year, the average white family makes almost $80,000.\u00a0\u00a0Education and income are directly correlated (that\u2019s why poor urban areas don\u2019t have great schools).\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t our universities, and particularly our top schools like Harvard, have an obligation to the nation to try to improve that situation?\u00a0\u00a0The Supreme Court has weighed in with a resounding, NO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The MAGA mantra is:\u00a0\u00a0no political correctness, no Black Lives Matter, no Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the educational process.\u00a0\u00a0They want \u201cour\u201d culture to go back to Mr. Pence\u2019s fifty years, (I\u2019d say closer to sixty).\u00a0\u00a0They want their kids (white) to keep their educational advantage.\u00a0\u00a0And the Supreme Court affirmed that mantra.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s all \u201ceven-Steven\u201d now.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCall Them Out<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What it Is<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Quality of Education<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Society\u2019s Problem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n