You may have noticed the right wing assault on all things diversity related. Whether its their attacks on Critical Race Theory (CRT), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), or Affirmative Action (AA)—conservatives have waged an all out culture war on anything that makes them uncomfortable.
More than 35 states have attempted to ban, or successfully banned CRT. More than 30 states are trying to do the same with DEI. I’ll address these more directly in future articles. Today, I want to provide a handy three step guide to explain Affirmative Action to conservatives, especially given that the our right wing Supreme Court has repealed Affirmative Action altogether.
First, explain the history of who Affirmative Action benefitted most—because it was not Black people. In reality, the demographic that benefitted most from Affirmative Action—more than Black, Indigenous, Latino, and Asian Americans combined—are white women. As TIME Magazine reports:
While people of color, individually and as groups, have been helped by affirmative action in the subsequent years, data and studies suggest women — white women in particular — have benefited disproportionately. According to one study, in 1995, 6 million women, the majority of whom were white, had jobs they wouldn’t have otherwise held but for affirmative action. Another study shows that women made [more than 7X] greater gains in employment at companies that do business with the federal government, which are therefore subject to federal affirmative-action requirements. Even in the private sector, the advancements of white women eclipse those of people of color.
Next, explain that Affirmative Action was never about accepting unqualified people (whether they were women or of color, or women of color). Affirmative Action was always about ensuring underrepresented qualified people also had a fair shot at acceptance. Universities and corporations systemically discriminated against non-white applicants for the entirety of American history up through Jim Crow.
This is why even post Civil War, Black Americans were forced to build Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to ensure Black children could attain education. When W.E.B. Dubois (1868-1963) made history in 1895 as the first Black PhD graduate of Harvard University, he famously and correctly said, “The honor, I assure you, was Harvard’s.”
Affirmative Action required universities and corporations to finally also consider non-white applicants when making hiring decisions. To repeat, Affirmative Action did not force universities and corporations to accept unqualified women and Black people—it required them to also consider qualified women and Black people. And the ample data backs up how such diversity has historically benefitted the economy and innovation on a national and international level. And claims that we are somehow “post-racial” are backed not by facts or evidence, but meritless opinions.
Finally, point out that if conservatives truly objected to unqualified admissions or acceptances, they would have attacked and repealed Legacy Admissions, not Affirmative Action. The receipts make this clear. For example, while conservatives protested the 8% Black students at Harvard, Legacy Admissions and sports admissions accounted for 43% of white students accepted to Harvard. And shockingly, 75% of those students would not have qualified or been accepted on merit. As reported by Vox, one study by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) reports:
Among white students admitted to Harvard, 43 percent received a preference for athletics, legacy status, being on the dean’s interest list, or for being the child of a faculty or staff member, and without those advantages, three-quarters would have been rejected.
In other words, if the conservative outrage was truly about the lack of meritocracy, their exclusive target should have been Legacy Admissions. Even if we go with the false claim that every single Black person admitted was admitted due to Affirmative Action and was unqualified, the number of those admissions still dwarfs in comparison to the unqualified white Legacy students admitted.
Yet, complete silence from conservatives on this fact. I cannot imagine why.
In conclusion, I’m hopeful the above facts help you at the inevitable conversation with a conservative family member or friend who has bought into the right wing propaganda about Affirmative Action. Indeed, the facts do not lie. The movement to repeal Affirmative Action, or ban DEI, or demonize CRT—was never about merit and was never about applicant qualifications. It was always about reviving Jim Crow white supremacy. And the scary part is—so far—it is working.
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I'd say that while one can certainly find find exceptions, the goal of AA is to uncover true merit that may be obscured by past or present discrimination. And this needs to be explained to Progressives as much as to "conservatives."
Can we explain things to conservatives? It’s like trying to remove WMDs from the rubble we left in Baghdad. The future is being destroyed with savagery,
not logic, the patriarchal model of compassionate conservatism.
I'd say that while one can certainly find find exceptions, the goal of AA is to uncover true merit that may be obscured by past or present discrimination. And this needs to be explained to Progressives as much as to "conservatives."
Can we explain things to conservatives? It’s like trying to remove WMDs from the rubble we left in Baghdad. The future is being destroyed with savagery,
not logic, the patriarchal model of compassionate conservatism.