We live only two generations after racial segregation laws were outlawed in this country. We are only a few more generations removed from chattel slavery. Racial and gender disparities still abound in nearly every aspect of our society. Yet the Supreme Court took up a case this past summer to test the constitutionality of affirmative action in higher education admissions.
In the hands of the same judges who selected Bush to be President, decades of progress for equal rights and justice could easily have been completely unraveled. Thankfully, it wasn\\\'t. Bucking the will of an outspoken President Bush, the justices issued a ruling that upheld the right of universities to consider race and gender in admissions procedures. The struggle for affirmative action continues, but the court’s decision was a step in the right direction.
Only by analyzing the history behind affirmative action—and the affects it has had on our society—can we understand why the right wing is hell-bent on dismantling it. This understanding will help us better organize to defend and advance the gains of the civil rights and women\\\'s rights movements.
Affirmative Action: Achieved in Struggle
Capitalism in the U.S. was founded on the enslavement of Africans; their forced, unpaid labor sped up the development of this country and helped make it an economic superpower. The manipulation of immigration from Latin America and Asia, as well as the theft of the land of the Native American Indians also enriched a few at the expense of many. Women worked for centuries without their work (cooking, cleaning, child rearing, etc.) being given a financial value and without an equal wage in the workplace.
The history of struggle of people of color and women for equality and justice runs just as deep. First came the abolitionist movement, then the fight for women\\\'s right to vote, and then the heroic civil rights struggles of the mid-century: all were uphill battles. In 1965, at the peak of the Civil Rights Movement, President Johnson signed into law affirmative action policies designed to fight ongoing discrimination.
The policies were meant to \\\"level the playing field\\\" for people of color and women, in order to break down the barriers that they faced in education and the workplace. Affirmative action was \\\"temporary\\\" in the sense that it would no longer be needed if those barriers disappeared.
In less than a decade, however, the right wing challenged affirmative action in the court. In 1978, the Supreme Court\\\'s famous \\\"Bakke Decision\\\" found that while that while exact \\\"racial quotas\\\" were unconstitutional, affirmative action itself was not. But the backlash was just beginning.
Why Now?
Today, the Bush Administration wants to end the government\\\'s commitment to equal rights under the law, and to improving opportunities and outcomes for disadvantaged groups. Is this because racism and sexism are over? Are affirmative action programs no longer necessary? Of course not.
According to the Oakland\\\'s Applied Research Center, segregation in US public schools is greater today than before the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. The AFL-CIO reports that for every dollar men earn, women in the same job earn an average of 76 cents, with women of color earning even less. Racism and discrimination are alive and well today.
Affirmative action is under attack today because right-wing racists have the support of the far right wing of the Republican Party in the White House and Congress. The right wing now controls all three branches of national government, and they wanted to rewrite legislation through the Supreme Court, whose members serve life terms and are not directly accountable to the American people.
Just because they lost this round does not mean they are going to stop their attacks. As they have done in California, the right will be looking for every possible avenue to challenge or overturn affirmative action policies.
Why is ending affirmative action a priority for the right wing? Why would Bush go out of his way to issue an unprecedented \\\"friend of the court\\\" brief against the prevailing law? This seemed strange, given that the Republicans claim they are \\\"reaching out\\\" to voters of color (usually by placing some beneficiaries of affirmative action on a stage or in the Bush Cabinet).
We think there are two main reasons. The first is financial: the ruling class makes big profits by increasing inequality. The second is political: they are attempting to shift the terms of debate about racism in order to solidify their power.
Cashing in on Racism and Sexism
Republicans obsessively focus on how people of color benefit from affirmative action at the expense of whites. Only rarely will you find them arguing that affirmative action benefits women at the expense of men. Regardless, both arguments are false. Providing greater access to education and jobs for women and people of color actually benefits all sectors of society in many ways.
In simple economics, affirmative action pushes wages up across the board for everyone. A well-educated workforce demands good wages, and improvements in wages for women and people of color reduces the degree to which they can be used as a threat to undermine the gains of higher-paid workers. Like laws raising the minimum wage, affirmative action pushes up wages all across the board.
Furthermore, women\\\'s ability to hold better-paying jobs means that more families (of all races) can increase their wealth. It means that parents have to work fewer hours in order to meet their basic needs, and they can spend more time with their children - helping them with homework, giving them greater love and attention, etc. This strengthens children\\\'s performance in school, which makes them more likely to succeed later in life, and so on...
The Political Profits of \\\"Reverse Racism\\\"
In terms of political power, the ruling class is solidifying its connection with the white working class through a fight against affirmative action. The right wing wants us to believe that joblessness, layoffs and low wages are the fault of immigrants and workers of color, when they are really due to its own drive for corporate profits.
Gone are the days of paying poor, landless whites to catch slaves, but the ruling class is still busy binding white workers to right-wing ideology. The Republicans are using affirmative action as wedge issue to divide liberal middle-class Democrats from the white working-class, and to divide the white workers from the rest of the multi-racial working class. By labeling it \\\"reverse racism,\\\" the right wing manipulates the powerlessness that white workers feel by pointing to a familiar scapegoat: people of color.
At the same time, they are trying to cast liberals as \\\"condescending racists\\\" who don\\\'t believe that people of color have what it takes to \\\"make it on their own\\\". As the argument goes, the Republicans have a more dignified view of people of color, and their ideology presents more opportunities for progress. Not only, then, are they attempting to pull white workers to their side, but also whatever portion of the black middle class is willing to join in.
Education is a right, not a privilege!
Famous football coach Vince Lombardi once said \\\"the best defense is a good offense.\\\" The same can apply in politics: if we let the Republicans set the agenda, we will simply be reacting to it on their terms, rather than defining the root of the problem in our terms, and then pushing them on the defensive.
First, by arguing how affirmative action benefits everyone, we can set the right-wing running for cover. Yet even more importantly, we have to condemn the practices that created the need for affirmative action in the first place: institutional racism and sexism. Most of the right-wing Republicans\\\' arguments against affirmative action do not even acknowledge that discrimination still exists. We must emphasize that racism and sexism are everywhere, and that the right wing offers no solution to inequality and injustice. In fact, Bush and company want to dismantle one of the few policies that actually does.
But alone, these arguments aren\\\'t enough. We have to help build a movement to win equal rights and justice - and the fight for affirmative action needs your help! The United States Students Association (USSA, see www.usstudents.org) is the largest organization representing students and young people in the United States. Its \\\"Students of Color - Campus Diversity Initiative\\\" is leading the way on campuses across the country to organize and mobilize students and young people to build support for affirmative action.
Looking Ahead to 2004
Despite the Supreme Court\\\'s decision, the battle for equal rights continues, and we must not give up. The 2004 elections are right around the corner, and we must mobilize all of our resources to defeat the ultra-right. Women, communities of color, organized labor, seniors, and youth and students can unite to defeat Bush and lead our society nearer and nearer to true justice and equality.
It\\\'s an uphill battle, but we must keep climbing. Together, we can move mountains.
For more information on affirmative action:
Filipinos for Affirmative Action
www.filipinos4action.org
American Association for Affirmative Action
www.affirmativeaction.org
Chinese for Affirmative Action
www.caasf.org
USSA\\\'s Affirmative Action Page
www.usstudents.org/foundation/CDP/affact.asp
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