I posted this to my law school listserv after my law school revealed they were cutting back on the incoming class size next year. Given that Proposal 2 passed last November and eliminated affirmative action in the state, this naturally touched off a debate about how the minorities would be the first to go, and affirmative action got brought into the debate. Rather than try to debate the small points of why diversity is good/bad, I've made the well-grounded assumption that diversity is good, but that the way to achieve it is not to institute programs that force it upon people by allowing underqualified people of any race be it Caucasian, African American, Asian, etc. entry solely on the basis of their race. My belief is that poverty is the root cause of underqualified applicants, and that while race may have kicked it off, it is not the prevailing cause anymore. So I turned to addressing affirmative action and the reasons why it is not a good idea anymore. Without further ado, my listserv post:
I'd like to start with the statement, "Poverty respects no one." Poverty can strike anyone of any skin color, nationality, creed, religion, etc. While traditionally, ethnic minorities are the hardest hit by it, they are by no means the only ones hit with it. When you use something like affirmative action and base it on race, gender, etc. you treat the symptoms of what is an epidemic in society, but without ever touching the disease itself. While racism and other prejudices do still exist and are prevalent, I am convinced that the root problem that
prevents minorities from getting into law school or any other type of school lies in impoverished communities where children do not have the opportunity and the facilities necessary to gain a proper primary and secondary education much less a college one. In this respect, children
who are Caucasian, African American, Latino, and every other race out there can be affected.
Affirmative action unfortunately only looks to the effects of poverty, of which many originated in racism. It tries to create a level playing field by creating a lower floor for those in the minority while creating a higher one for those in the majority, including those who are both poor and in the majority. This does NOTHING but create animosity between those who are poor and feel they are being abused by the system because those who are in the same position or better than them who are getting opportunities they did not purely because their skin color is different from theirs. The casualties of affirmative action are those who are passed up for opportunities because their skin color is white even though they came from the same economic circumstances, went to the same crappy schools, and grew up with high school educated or worse parents, and you cannot simply pretend they don't exist.
The biggest problem with affirmative action, as I stated previously is that it perpetuates more problems than it corrects. It is something that creates animosity by its very nature. Its goal may be noble, but the way it goes about achieving that goal drives a wedge between those that need to be brought together to fight a common enemy, and that enemy is primarily poverty now. I'm not denying that racism still exists, because it does. The fact that groups like the KKK still exist demonstrates this. However, affirmative action fed the fire for racism even more. People who did not understand its goals and only saw its effects became even more racist. Even many of those who knew its goals felt that the way it was trying to achieve them was at best ineffective and at worst was counterproductive. Now that the barrier has been eliminated via Prop 2, it is one less reason that people can use as an excuse for racism, and one less reason that people have to become racist in the first place. Eliminating the AA is not the end however. It is
only an intermediate step in the process. Racism will likely always exist in some form, but to curtail it we must begin to ostracize and refuse to deal with those who engage in its practices. This is from both sides of the coin. As long as there is an "us vs. them" mentality, I guarantee that racism will continue and flourish because we will never come together, except it be as 1 human race. Until society completely turns their back on the people that are racist, people will think that it's ok to be racist. That is however, a long process that will take several generations, probably several less now than previously.
For now, the process must be carried on by attempting to eliminate poverty in the Detroit area, or at least severely curtail its effects. We cannot simply pass out checks. Such a thing would never be accepted by the taxpayers, and would likely do nothing but marginalize those it's
trying to help. What we need to do is help the children of the upcoming generation to receive better quality education by fighting in Lansing and in Congress if need be, to get Detroit's children better schools, equipment, and teachers. We need to continue programs like SHSR, which I hope to be a part of next year, and we need to start new ones to tutor kids from families that don't have college-educated parents in the various fundamental subjects. This is not something that will be done only with money. It is something that must be done with time and
effort. Once we get a generation of well-educated people from these traditionally poor neighborhoods and continue funding the schools in these areas, the problem will begin to correct itself. Perhaps working in diverse groups in the process will help to break down some of these
racial barriers as well.
I can stand here on my soapbox and lecture all day long, but it means nothing and I'm being hypocritical until I personally do something about it. Admittedly I've been more concerned about my first year grades than I have been about the plight of those less fortunate than I was.
Perhaps it's time for my ways to change and for me to start working on more community projects where they're needed the most. I will be looking into ways that I can help those less fortunate over the summer and I'll also see how I can continue that into my second-year as well.
Maybe if enough of us bench-sitters all pitch in and actually try to do something, like many of you reading this already have, we can actually make some kind of difference in the community and perhaps AA will eventually become irrelevant and obsolete as a result, though we may not
see it in our lifetimes. Thank you all who have read this dissertation and I welcome your comments and criticisms. I admit to being an idealist, but IMHO it's better to be an idealist striving toward a goal that seems completely out of reach, than to be a realist who merely
accepts things the way they are and doesn't try to change the status quo.
