Why Did Affirmative Action Die?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns affirmative action and why it was wrong. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education “set aside” the “separate but equal” doctrine in education. In its June 29, 2023, decision, the court buried the doctrine forever by banning “the use of racial preferences in college and university admissions programs.” 

Victor Davis Hanson was not surprised to see the end of affirmative action. He considered its demise to be “inevitable” and was surprised to see that it “lasted so long.” He gave ten reasons why affirmative action died. 

First, supporters of racial preferences always pushed back the goal posts for the program’s success. Was institutionalized reverse bias to last 20 years, 60 years, or ad infinitum? …

Second, affirmative action was imposed on the back end in adult hiring and college admissions. However, to achieve parity, remediation early at the K-12 school level would have been the only solution….

Third, class, the true barometer of privilege, was rendered meaningless. Surrealism followed. The truly privileged Barack and Michelle Obama as well as Meghan Markle lectured the country on its unfairness – as if they had it far rougher than the impoverished “deplorables” of East Palestine, Ohio.

Fourth, affirmative action supporters could never square the circle of proving that racial prejudices didn’t violate the spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the text of the Constitution….

Fifth, supporters never adequately explained why the sins of prior generations fell on their descendants who grew up in the post-civil rights era….

Sixth, there never was a “rainbow” coalition of shared non-white victimhood – a concept necessary to perpetuate the premise of white privilege, supremacy, and rage, so integral to race-based reverse discrimination. More than a dozen ethnicities earn more per capita than do whites….

Seventh, no one ever explained when affirmative action was to apply. Blacks, for example, were vastly “overrepresented” in merit-based professional football and basketball. Yet no one demanded “proportional representation” to address such “disparate impact,” despite underrepresentation of all other demographics….

Eighth, in our increasingly intermarried mass-immigration society, few could adjudicate who was what, or much less what standard gave one racial preference. In lunatic fashion, pink, blond Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., became Harvard’s first “Native American” law professor due to her “high cheekbones.” Light-skinned Latinos were considered marginalized, while some darker Italians or Greeks were not.

Ninth, an odious wokeism absorbed affirmative action and changed it into something even more abhorrent – as the original spirit of the civil rights movement was trashed. So Americans were asked to stomach a return to distasteful segregated dorms, “separate but equal” graduation ceremonies, and racially exclusive workshops.

Tenth, and finally, affirmative action was insidiously destroying meritocracy. That hallmark American value of tribally blind inclusivity once had explained why the nation outshone the world by discarding the old class prejudices of Europe. But increasingly, this value seemed to have been abandoned.

One big problem with the decision to end affirmative action is that it does not apply to the military academies. Admissions to pilot training, medical school, or military high command may be free from affirmative action. However, cadets accepted at the military schools may be selected with affirmative action. Why are our military schools not seeking the best and the brightest – no matter the color of their skin?