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CNN reports that the Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) by a vote of 6 - 2 has upheld a Michigan law banning the use of racial criteria in college admissions, finding that a lower court did not have the authority to set aside the measure approved in a 2006 referendum supported by 58% of voters. "This case is not about how the debate about racial preferences should be resolved. It is about who may resolve it," wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy. "Michigan voters used the initiative system to bypass public officials who were deemed not responsive to the concerns of a majority of the voters with respect to a policy of granting race-based preferences that raises difficult and delicate issues." Kennedy's core opinion in the Michigan case seems to exalt referenda as a kind of direct democracy that the courts should be particularly reluctant to disturb. This might be a problem for same-sex marriage opponents if a future Supreme Court challenge involves a state law or constitutional amendment enacted by voters. Justice Sonia Sotomayor reacted sharply in disagreeing with the decision in a 58 page dissent. "For members of historically marginalized groups, which rely on the federal courts to protect their constitutional rights, the decision can hardly bolster hope for a vision of democracy (PDF) that preserves for all the right to participate meaningfully and equally in self-government."
The decision was the latest step in a legal and political battle over whether state colleges can use race and gender as a factor in choosing what students to admit. Michigan has said minority enrollment at its flagship university, the University of Michigan, has not gone down since the measure was passed. Civil rights groups dispute those figures and say other states have seen fewer African-American and Hispanic students attending highly competitive schools, especially in graduate level fields like law, medicine, and science. "Today's decision turns back our nation's commitment to racial equality and equal treatment under the law by sanctioning separate and unequal political processes that put undue burdens on students," National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said in a statement. "The Supreme Court has made it harder to advocate and, ultimately, achieve equal educational opportunity."
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 24 2014, @12:39AM
I notice that your narrative doesn't include 4 centuries of oppression suffered by people of your pigmentation, practices ingrained in local laws (which Federal courts had to declare unconstitutional AFTER a constitutional amendment specifically forbidding them), establishing an ongoing pattern of prejudice in American society.
When you have been subjected to Jim Whitebird laws [wikipedia.org]--even after [wikipedia.org] they have been declared illegal--then you will have a case to make.
I suggest that you report back after you have done the Black Like Me [google.com] thing and have seen the other side of the coin.
Until "driving while white" is a common "offense", you're just a whiner.
-- gewg_
(Score: 1) by urza9814 on Thursday April 24 2014, @01:56AM
Man. Normally I specifically look for your sig, gewg_, because normally you say exactly what I would have said, but generally with a much stronger argument :) But in this case I've gotta disagree.
I mean, race can be a decent proxy for these problems, but I don't think it's the defining characteristic at least when we're talking about educational opportunities. Do you REALLY think Obama's kids need a boost more than some of the white kids living in the trailer park by my apartment?
The real problem is one of socio-economic status. Race can proxy for that, but we can better measure it more directly. I think something similar to affirmative action but based on income (or much better, wealth) would be fantastic. In fact, many colleges are going the opposite direction -- in the past few years, financial aid has been going more and more to draw wealthier students rather than to help those who truly need it. That needs to be reversed -- HARD.
If you hit that 4.0, but only after your parents hired a private tutor, you sure as shit don't deserve it as much as someone who hit that 4.0 whose single parent works minimum wage. I see no real need to bring race into this -- the truly disadvantaged minorities would already be over-represented in impoverished populations, and as they advance out of that the whole system will adjust itself automatically to whatever population happens to be most disadvantaged at the time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 24 2014, @11:34PM
For the illiterate|incurious person|racist|whatever who modded the GP post Flamebait:
The non-fiction book "Black Like Me", [wikipedia.org] written in 1959,
is the account of a white man who turns his skin dark by taking a drug.
He also shaves off his (non-kinky) hair.
He then travels around the segregated South.
He has the same intellect and morals that he had before he started his transformation; the only difference is his outward appearance, yet now (white) people treat him like something they need to scrape off their shoe.
race[...]I don't think it's the defining characteristic
My point was that if the GGP had done the Black Like Me thing, he would have added yet another impediment to his progress in life AND IT IS *STILL* A **HUGE** IMPEDIMENT--in many places even **larger** than any of the other things working against him.
The fact that a post that points to Black Like Me got modded Flamebait clearly shows that blind racism and ignorance is still rampant--and it's WORLDWIDE. [google.com]
Obama's kids
There are numerous places in the USA where they could dress as nicely as they do and be perfectly groomed and have impeccable manners and have the most awesome curriculum vitae--and it wouldn't matter a bit; without the possibility of Federal legal sanctions, their paperwork would immediately go into the trash.
The fact that you and the down-modder don't realize that / couldn't care less is a big part of the problem.
Maybe Mae Jemison [wikipedia.org] or Clarence Thomas[1] would have achieved all they did before laws forbidding institutionalized racism, but I wouldn't bet on that.
It doesn't matter if you're a PhD college professor, [wikipedia.org] if you are black, you're still getting rousted by some white guy [wikipedia.org] who barely made it out of high school.
You have NO rights and you are guilty on sight.
How are you going to succeed with a conviction on your record?
Additionally, people think that e.g. Indiana, being a northern state, is a bastion of racial tolerance--but it's as racist as any place in the Deep South. (For starters, find demographics maps for the last few elections.)
For the illiterate down-modder, who, apparently needs video to "get" it, here's a guy (played by Eddie Murphy) who does a takeoff on Black Like Me. [google.com]
He puts on a nice suit and "goes white" and (white) people immediately start treating him like a prince.
At this point, I'm reminded of the First Nation prayer
"Great Spirit, help me never to judge another until I have walked in his moccasins"
and the anecdote, "I complained that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet".[2]
In summary, urza, your naivety and limited social circles are in evidence.
[1] Talk about a Sambo[3] who was the recipient of racially-based assistance, then, as soon as he had fully benefited from that, claims it is unneeded.
Clarence Thomas couldn't even hold the jock of the guy whom he succeeded. [wikipedia.org]
[2] Hmmm. I never realized I was so into feet.
[3] Most people (ignorantly) say "Uncle Tom". WRONG.
Uncle Tom allowed himself to be beaten to death rather than betray his own people.
The brutal black capo was called Sambo.
-- gewg_
(Score: 1) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 24 2014, @09:49AM
4 centuries of oppression suffered by people of your pigmentation
White guy here.
You know what?
Fuck you. For all you know, my and the previous AC's ancestors were enslaved by the Ottomans. But I guess being horribly beaten and forced to row is easystreet.