Forty-five and his posse support preferences in immigration, but oppose them when it comes to higher education and employment. The Administration’s positions on both affirmative action and immigration are winks and nods to 45’s base, the nativist White people who irrationally oppose immigration, and feel that Whites experience more discrimination than do African Americans. Their beliefs cannot be verified by economic data that indicate that African American people experience more unemployment, have lower incomes, less wealth and less education. Equally educated African Americans take twice as long to find new jobs as Whites do. Beyond economic matter, basic quality of life issues (such as police violence) are harsher for African Americans than for Whites.
If 45 and his crew can state their preferences for immigration policy, why can’t institutions of higher education state their preferences for admissions policy? The problem is that 45 has hired these inferior and aggrieved White people, like Candice Jackson, who works in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Education. While a Stanford student, Jackson was a staunch critic of affirmative action. She has also said, rather callously, that most accusations of campus rape are related to alcohol or the end of relationships.
She is exactly the wrong type of person to lead an office of civil rights. It is not clear why Jackson was hired, but she has the right ideological credentials—she wrote a book about “the women targeted by the Clinton machine”, worked for the conservative Judicial Watch organization, and has an axe to grind against feminists, and those who support racial economic justice. Charging this woman with defending civil rights is the same as charging Scott Pruitt with protecting the environment!
Forty-five and his colleagues would probably support the same kind of affirmative action in college admissions as they support for immigration. If you have money, are an entrepreneur, or have already achieved, then you deserve admission. If not, that’s just too bad. Are we facing the end of affirmative action and the end of immigration fairness? Most likely, unless we resist. Every day it becomes clearer that 45 will attempt to implement drastic structural change unless our legislative process is altered by the 2018 elections. Meanwhile, 45 is throwing red meat at the braying dogs of racism and xenophobia. And the dogs are barking at those of us who believe in justice and fairness.
(Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author, and Founder of Economic Education.)
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