“I am astonished at the ease with which uninformed persons come to a settled, a passionate opinion when they have no grounds for judgment.”
-William Golding
Over the past couple of days I have read several articles about The University of Michigan being allowed by the Supreme Court to uphold their ban on Affirmative Action, and I cannot help but feel the above quote so adequately fits the situation – for those six on the Court who voted to uphold the ban. I’m sorry, but I do not wish to live in a “color-blind” society. it creeps me out, like some Utopic book where the beginning seems so lovely and nice and then as the pages turn more is revealed about how creativity is stiffled, big brother is controlling everything, or SURPRISE you’re living in a fake microcosm literally locked away from the real world.
There are people of different colors, languages, religions, beliefs, and cultures just as there are people of different genders, sexes, ages and sizes; each with a unique experience of the world (both putting things out differently into the world and receiving things differently from the world).
Justice Roberts had a simple opinion (circa 2007) of the issue, stating “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” But why does the discrimination have to stop first in an area that is providing a benefit to those who suffered/suffer most from discrimination? Why shouldn’t the discrimination have to stop on the side- the side of those inflicting their prejudices and racism on others from an individual level to the institutional racism?
It reminds me of the simple, passionate, and wrong judgement that the best way to stop a rape from occurring is for the girl to dress more conservatively. Its utter ridiculousness. Our society needs to stop needling the victim and start asking how conversations can begin and behaviors can be taught differently so women can wear what they want and minorities can stop feeling racism and discrimination coming at them every day.
Times are different from the days of segregation and Jim Crow laws, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t much more to work on- and it certainly doesn’t mean America is “off the hook” when in comes to Affirmative Action. I think the day we can safely remove Affirmative Action is two part: 1a. The statistics on hate crimes based on race and skin color are slim to none- or at least consistently even with all other violent crime involving the majority, white society/ 1b. That social cues sighting institutional racism are also gone (my social science research friends can certainly find a way to measure this) and 2. that each child in ANY public school has the same opportunities and learning available to them; to honestly give them a fair playing field on the way to achieving their higher education dreams.
Mic drop. (P.S. sharing a strong opinion is liberating).