KEEP HOPE ALIVE with REV. JESSE JACKSON

Sunday, February 26, 2012

 

Affirmative Action…

The set of public policies and initiatives designed to help eliminate past and present discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, is under attack…

The US Supreme Court announced Tuesday that arguments will be heard in October---just before the November election---putting this issue and race front during the November election…

This case was brought against the University of Texas by two White female students, after they were denied admission in 2008. They were just below the 10 percent automatic-admission cutoff, but claim that their race was held against them in the admissions process enabling less qualified people of color to take seats at the University of Texas that, presumably, should have been theirs…

Though their previous lawsuits were rejected by the lower courts, the students have forged ahead funded by opponents of race as a consideration for admission in public schools and universities…

Why is race the tender spot in this issue? Why not gender? And, why have “legacy clauses”---a longstanding policy that enables children of alumni or close relatives to be admitted to a school---not faced the same degree of scrutiny?

A Duke study found that their SAT scores are “40 points lower than students with professional degree parents, and about 12 points lower than students with other degree parents.” In fact, this practice and policy is most extensive at highly selective colleges and universities, most prominent among them Harvard, Yale and Princeton…

So, what is really at issue here?  Race and racism? Class? Privilege and to whom privilege is extended? And, what will a world without Affirmative Action look like? How could its literal or effective end impact the workplace and other social, political and cultural institutions?

Joining us will be:                       

  • ATTY. BARBARA ARNWINE, Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law…
  • ATTY. DAMON HEWITT, the Education Director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund…
  • TEXAS STATE SENATOR RODNEY ELLIS…