By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
IndyPoltics.Org
Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org.
Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org.
I took the title of this column from the name of a book written by Yale Law Professor Stephen L. Carter. It was published in 1992, during my last year as an undergraduate at Northern Illinois University.
Commentary button in JPG – no shadowIn it he talks about being the beneficiary of affirmative action, but also being a victim, in a sense.
Carter says affirmative action started out with the best of intentions, but the end result has been twisted.
I agreed with it back then and I agree with it now.
One of the basic premises of his book was that affirmative action was simply a way for whites to exercise their liberal guilt by handing out benefits to what he called “the best blacks†and then forgetting about the rest who likely needed the most assistance.
During my time as an undergraduate and graduate student I made it a point to take advantage of whatever white liberal guilt or affirmative action program I could get my hands on. I did it because I was smart enough to figure out the system and make it work for me. Meanwhile, the not so bright, aggressive or ingenuitive people of color had to struggle.
I figured if you’re going to feel bad about something you had no control over the least I could do is make you feel better by giving something to me. (Luckily I have grown and matured since then.)
This is why I don’t get worked up over the recent 6-2 U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the decision of Michigan voters to end affirmative action by ending the use of race in college admissions.
I had some people – mostly black and whites infected with liberal guilt disease – tell me that this was just another example of “rolling back the clock†on civil rights.
I disagree.
If anything, it allows more people to get access to higher education who really want to pursue it.
Look at who benefits the most from affirmative action college admission programs in the 21st Century. It is usually more well-educated, well-off African Americans.
In my own family, my niece who attends Ohio State University will be the third generation in my family with an advanced degree – my Dad and me being the other two. Her parents had the financial resources to send her to school and she had the drive and the initiative to do the rest.
People like us don’t need affirmative action, to be honest.
However, there are a lot of folks who do. So here’s a thought: Instead of using race in college admissions, I have always believed using income and geography would get you a better result.
Colleges and universities could really reach those bright students who come from low-income areas and give them access to higher learning. Because to be honest, I really don’t think a wealthy black kid from Hyde Park should get an extra boost over a poor kid white kid from rural Appalachia.
Now don’t get me wrong, I do believe diversity is a good thing. However, do we achieve a more diverse society by bringing in folks from all walks of life and giving them an opportunity? Or do we just want a bunch of “Cosby kids†to reap the rewards and benefits so they can pass them on to their children?
The point of affirmative action 40-45 years ago was to provide an opportunity for people who had traditionally been left on the margins of society, but who had the drive, ambition and the smarts to want to achieve. That was a laudable goal then and it still is today.
I just think we need to do it a little differently than back in the 1960s and 1970s.
Abdul is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org. He is also a frequent contributor to numerous Indiana media outlets. He can be reached at abdul@indypolitics.org.
