Local View: United States is not ready for end of affirmative action

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By JOSE J. SOTO

Efforts to eliminate affirmative action as a tool for attaining equal opportunity and social justice are current and active in four states: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Nebraska. (A petition that was pending in Oklahoma was recently withdrawn amid concerns of fraud in the gathering of signatures.)

The time will come when affirmative action should be eliminated, and when that time comes, I will ardently champion its elimination. I believe, however, that time is not yet here.

In Grutter v. Bollinger [539 U.S. 306 (2003)], the U.S. Supreme Court opined, through Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, that attaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body was a sufficiently compelling interest to warrant taking race into account in making admissions decisions to higher education. The majority opinion in Grutter stated that “(w)e expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.”

Ward Connerly and others — at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and throughout Nebraska — seem to feel that administrative tools and efforts that take race into account have served their purpose and no longer have a role in advancing our quest for inclusion, representation and social justice. From their perspective, the “When?” is now.

I beg to differ. The Connerly-inspired efforts currently being advanced in Nebraska and four other states are wholly premature.

But I do believe, and am hopeful, there will come a time when we will not need these mechanisms and efforts to exact social justice. From my experience and observation, that day is not today, nor will it be in April 2009, or 2010, maybe not even by Justice O’Connor’s “magic” date of 2028.

However, the day will come when we will know that we’ve “arrived.” And when, you might ask, will that be? How will we know?

Let me share my list of 10 indicators that will lead me to champion the elimination of affirmative action, equity and diversity efforts in higher education, business and industry, and government.

1) When women and minorities have attained their proportionate share of leadership and decision-making roles in our institutions of higher education, business and industry, and government.

2) When the voices and views of minorities and women are actively solicited, present, heard and accorded due respect and weight in the processes of hiring, promotion, merit and retention in higher education, business and industry, and government.

3) When policies, practices, attitudes and structures within our institutions, organizations and workplaces support the development and success of qualified minorities and women to the same extent that others are developed and supported.

4) When the cultural, social and interactional environments of our social institutions and places of work, play and education are welcoming, supportive and affirming of diverse “ways of thinking, being and doing.”

5) When the inclusion, representation and participation of minorities and women are not afterthoughts or add-ons, but up-front and expected considerations as processes, activities and events are planned, designed and developed.

6) When diversity “enriches” more than it “enrages.”

7) When diversity unites more than it divides.

8)  When diversity is perceived and treated as an asset instead of a deficit.

9) When race and gender, as well as other statuses and characteristics, don’t matter.

10) When minorities and women no longer have to work twice as hard to be perceived as being “half-as-good.”

Until then, affirmative action, equity and diversity initiatives are necessary, warranted and timely as tools for social justice. And I encourage us to continue supporting these efforts and to actively resist Connerly, his backers, his minions and his shills in their quest to dismantle these modest efforts to exact social justice.

Jose J. Soto is legislative chairperson of the American Association for Affirmative Action in Washington, D.C.