The Huffington Post reports
that the Supreme Court is reviewing two key debates in the Civil Rights scope:
affirmative action and voting rights, major players in the civil rights
movements of just yesteryear. Some of the SCOTUS justices believe that race
relations have improved so greatly over the last fifty years that certain
federal laws protecting minorities – particularly for those in the South – are
no longer needed. Justice Scalia stated that it was “the high court’s
responsibility to overturn voting protections overwhelmingly passed by Congress
in 2006.” Scalia scathingly added that
these certain “racial entitlements” create difficulties or bottlenecks in the
standard political process.
Reading this article only angered me. Between all the gerrymandering,
voter ID scandals, and other atrocious behaviours that occurred during the last
election, I don’t think our country is quite ready to go carte blanche with
respect to eliminating racial equality laws. Although black poverty has fallen
nearly fifty percent since the 1950s, it is still three times the poverty rate
of whites. Affirmative action should remain in place but I can certainly
appreciate the frustration that some white students experience. In the case of
white student Abigail Fisher, she was rejected and she sued, claiming that her
rejection was racially-based. However, SCOTUS advises universities to consider
race, in a list of many factors that decide the fate of a student. Until the margin decreases between whites
versus non-whites regarding employment, wealth, education, and racial bias;
until ridiculous behavior – reminiscent of post-slavery South regarding poll
taxes and literacy tests; until a person sees a person and not a skin colour –
until all that happens and more – is when a conversation about eliminating
Affirmative Action can take place.
