Supreme Court Finally Acknowledges That Racial Preferences Have Always Been Wrong – The

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the substitution of race for merit when it ruled against Harvard University’s use of racial preferences in admissions. “I write,” Justice Clarence Thomas states in his concurring opinion, “to clarify that all forms of discrimination based on race—including so-called affirmative action—are prohibited under the Constitution.”

The landmark decision is squarely at odds with figures like Bull Connor, George Wallace, Robert Byrd, and their modern-day counterparts who advocate for different treatment based on skin color. More importantly, it confirms what most Americans already understand: Treating people differently based on their race is always wrong.

In America, judging people based on race reached its nadir with the scourge of slavery. Despite its continued practice around the world, this vile practice wasn’t easily erased here. Hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers bled and died to advance the bold Christian witness of abolitionists in the U.S. and England. 

Jim Crow–era laws and their stubborn vestiges took even longer to defeat. Early in my career, as spokesman for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S Department of Justice, I saw the ugly sneer of racism in case after case. Here’s what I learned there: Every illegal racist act must be confronted, and our justice system provides many ways to do so.

The True Drive Toward Equality

Despite the depraved hearts of a small cohort of our countrymen, the dream of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — that each of us be judged by the content of our character rather than by the color of our skin — is more tangible now than ever before. Indeed, the World Values Survey indicates that America is among the least racist countries on earth.

Rejecting racial preferences has been an American ideal ever since Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” That God-ordained notion took a long time to take hold, especially since Jefferson himself incorrectly thought his slaveholding deserved a pass. But just because someone gets his math wrong doesn’t mean the truth of the equation changes.

The consistent forward drive toward achieving equality has been detoured by modern-day segregation within American universities, even as the Constitution requires “equal protection of the laws” from the government and entities — like most colleges — that accept government funds. Sadly, like a miser greedily gripping his last dollar, those obsessed with racial preferences refuse to let go.

Perhaps now, with a majority opinion from the highest court in the land, we can obliterate this insidious inequity, often glossed over with the Orwellian label of “affirmative action” — an idea that doesn’t even work, as a Stanford Law Review study shows. Black law students accepted though race-conscious admissions processes are worse off than at schools where race isn’t a factor.

Honest people, speaking in the remaining spaces where truth circulates without shrieks of perceived offense, will acknowledge the predictable consequences of racial preferences: Merit — the source of excellence and quality in nearly all human endeavors — becomes eclipsed by tribalism. Sorting students into groups and assigning winners and losers in a perverse pigmentation sweepstakes impedes the unity this nation so desperately wants.

Past Supreme Court on Affirmative Action

The Supreme Court has spoken on this topic before, providing key signposts as to how it arrived here. In fact, 20 years ago this month, the majority in a crucial case directed the University of Texas law school to “terminate its use of racial preferences as soon as practicable.” In that same order, the justices envisioned that, 25 years hence, there would be no further need to consider race in admissions.

But since simplicity of expression is often most illuminating, the court made an even more persuasive case in 2007, when it pointed out, “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

Campus leaders didn’t listen. All too often, students have continued to be sorted into racial castes, with Asian American students at the lowest rung. Shockingly, some universities now host segregated commencement ceremonies. We’re left to wonder if they will segregate campus water fountains and lunch counters next.

This neo-racism perpetuates the tribalistic tendencies that hinder our progress toward a unified society. It reinforces the false notion that race is destiny and disregards the potential for individual achievement.

As this page turns, let’s unite to reach for a future where skin color is no more an important determinant of success than is hair color. Equality demands we dismantle this divisive legacy, by choosing merit over melanin, and — as King himself dreamed — character over color.

Mark R. Weaver is the former deputy attorney general of Ohio and the author of A Wordsmith’s Work. Follow him on Twitter @MarkRWeaver.