Affirmative action is a tool to redress previous wrongs, to abolish the legacy of segregation and the continued inequity that has haunted America throughout the decades. Its purpose is to give meaningful access to education and opportunity to meaningful work.
A lack of historical awareness about the legacies of degradation and debasement of communities of color can be contrasted to the successes and upward mobility of Americas white elites may cause one to turn their eyes away.
We’ve seen legacy admissions remain an aspect of the most prestigious schools, yet we seek only to kill affirmative action. One favors arguably the most privileged and the other seeks to uplift the least among us. It is astonishing.
In this moment we must ask ourselves very serious questions to build a more fruitful legacy for our country and all her people. I will pose a few and to try to take it in good faith.
Can we get rid of legacy admission? If we cannot, should we consider affirmative action as a counter to build the legacies of the less privileged?
Some say it is not a function of government to make all things equal. That is perhaps a legitimate perspective. However, if this same society has effectively made things unequal for a great many people, namely African Americans, Native Americans and a great number of so aggrieved communities, then surely these inequities must be addressed full stop. Or else should the inequities continue to grow with no policy to be furthered in stopping this disequilibrium in our society?
We need to be honest about the history of America and the coddling of the elite at the expense of all others in these United States. Affirmative action is just one solution to this problem.
I’ll end with a quote from a great African American leader in W.E.B. Dubois, he says in the “Souls of Black Folk,” “Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. How does it feel to be a problem?”
The problem of the color line is a long and enduring one in this country it is time we place this problem at the steps of our governments. The legacy of this problem and our futures hinges on this case and the many more ruling to come.
Javier H. Hernandez
Javier H. Hernandez is a master’s of education student at the University of Utah.