In America, education remains the gateway to upward social mobility, to opportunity, to self-sufficiency, successful families and political participation. That’s the reality.
But the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1995 ruling in a Kansas City school desegregation case made it clear that it was out of the business of managing public school systems to protect African-Americans and other racial and ethnic minority students from the lingering effects of legal segregation.
Many observers say the courts, including the nation’s high court, in college desegregation and affirmative action rulings — for example, Hopwood vs. State of Texas and Podberesky vs. Kirwan — are signaling a willingness to strike down affirmative action programs and chip away at educational access for students of color.
Fueling the firestorm of legal debates is the “perception of the loss of majority privilege,” says Dr. Reginald Wilson, senior scholar at the Washington DC-based American Council on Education. But gains for students of color have been moderate at best, he adds.
Unfortunately, Wilson says, that hasn’t stopped politicians from seizing upon this perception and “irresponsibly heightening” it.
But the charge is not just being led by politicians. Howard University law professor Kenneth Tollett points to pockets of “white supremacist Blacks” and “angry” whites in the academy for sparking the fractious national debate on affirmative action.
“Neo-conservative Blacks,” says Tollett have helped advance and “sanitize attacks on affirmative action.” Among them, he says, are talk show host Armstrong Williams, author and scholar Shelby Steele, professor Walter Williams and former NAACP official Michael Meyers.
