The death of Justice Antonnin Scalia has sparked several stories about his life, his beliefs, and the way he voted as a member of the high court. I hadn’t been paying attention, but as the stories began to pour in, one in particular caught my eye.
In December, the court heard the case of a student from the
University of Texas, a Caucasian student, who believed she was denied admission
to the school in favor of an African American student with grades that weren’t
as stellar as her own.
School officials said that while about 75% of their student
admissions are based on grades and how well a student did in school, they use a
holistic approach, including looking at race,
(among other factors) in the admission of the remaining 25%
so that they can achieve diversity and give students who may have the drive and
desire but need a little boost.
During discussions, Justice Scalia indicated that perhaps
Black students needed to attend less rigorous schools and even pointed out that
most African American scientists don’t come from schools like the University of
Texas (gee maybe that’s cuz we aren’t allowed in). He and Chief Justice John Roberts questioned
if diversity was really necessary and if they were really getting much benefit
from the practice.
I know that Justice Scalia has passed away and my
condolences go out to his family. His death however, has brought a pivitol
issue to the forefront and the belief of some, not just Scalia, who don’t seem
to see the benefit of diversity.
You know it’s interesting. My parents still remember
segregation in their childhood and the Civil Rights Act was only passed in 1964
about 50 years ago. Until that time, for WAY longer than 50 years, Blacks were
oppressed in every way you can imagine.
It was much more than just slavery. It was against the law to teach a
Black person to read. And even after
that, during the time of segregation, the textbooks were outdated and full of
incorrect information.
So how is it that so many expect that in record time an
entire race should be able to recover from generations of systematic discrimination?
There are still many who are the first to graduate from high school and/or college
from their families.
It will take years for us to be able to achieve a level
playing field. Slavery was the law of the land for hundreds of years, and after
that, segregation was king. Why not at least give us the same amount of time we
spent in oppression to achieve ultimate success? And don’t even get me started
on the fact that racism is still very real in this country. I applaud the University of Texas for at
least attempting to recognize that we still have a long way to go.
I know that as a race, we have a lot that we can do to make
things better. But for real? Give us a break. The road to success for us, is full of more pot holes and pitfalls than you could ever imagine.
