Turning the Tide on Affirmative Action – Glenn Loury
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the affirmative action cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The Court will issue its decision next year, but if it goes the way that many predict, we may finally see the end of racial preferences in college admissions. If that happens, it will become much more difficult for universities to rig their admissions processes in order to increase diversity (i.e., more black students) at the expense of merit (i.e., more qualified students, whatever their race).
This has been a long time coming. The Court will make its decision on the merits of the arguments, but it seems to both John and me that this case exemplifies broader trends in the culture. The tide is turning against nonsensical anti-racist doctrines pedaled by hustlers cloaked in the borrowed finery of intellectual respectability and moral authority. Their ideas have done nothing but exacerbate racial tensions, distracting us from real problems that threaten the stability of the US. As John says, more and more people now recognize the empty rhetoric of so-called racial justice for what it is. All that remains is for these people to act on what they know to be true.
Easier said than done. Reasonable people who abhor racism but oppose the DEI hustle can still face negative consequences for speaking out. It is therefore incumbent on John, me, and everyone else who can do so to signal to these people that they are not alone. The spiral of silence that has prevented moderates who simply want fair policies in schools and workplaces from making their views known is, I believe, finally unraveling. It won t continue to do so on its own, so we need to keep pushing. And I have no intention of stopping until the job is done.
Gene Loury and John McWhorter are heroes.