“Entrenched racial inequality remains a reality today… What was true in the 1860s, and again in 1954, is true today: Equality requires acknowledgement of inequality.” - Justice Sonia Sotomayor
The Supreme Court struck down Harvard’s and UNC’s race-conscious admissions policies, turning away from long-standing precedent and denying the reality we all live in. Its majority opinion doesn’t represent what most Asian Americans and most Americans believe: affirmative action and race-conscious college admissions benefit all of us.
Let’s be clear: Far-right conservative and SFFA President Edward Blum was counting on the same Supreme Court judges who took away our freedoms to decide what to do with our bodies and to pass gun safety regulations. For decades he has pursued education and voting cases to deny Black, Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and other communities of color our rights and freedoms. He has hid behind Asian communities’ names and faces in an effort to make institutions of higher education even more predominantly white and privileged.
Thirty-three years ago, Mari Matsuda delivered a seminal speech at the Asian Law Caucus. Her words reach across the decades: We Will Not Be Used. We will not be deterred by politicized judges seeking to maintain their own power. Despite these attempts to divide Asian Americans from other communities of color, we are more unified than ever. We will continue our work to advance racial justice for everyone.
It is crucial that we are not silent in this moment. California’s reparations task force just wrote in a landmark 500-page report, “for hundreds of years, governments at all levels in America have inflicted compounding educational harm upon Black children, and they have never made sufficient amends." Among Asian Americans, this ruling could particularly harm Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, and Southeast Asian communities who continue to face significant barriers to higher education. The Court’s decision is trying to strip away guidelines that helped provide students of color with equitable access to education, and unless we push back, racial segregation may rise in universities and colleges.
In the coming days and weeks, there will be more information about the decision and its implications for educational equity.
Today, it is important to remember that even after this ruling, colleges can and should continue to consider how race has affected a student’s life and their ability to contribute to that university.
To affirm their commitment to racial justice, colleges and universities can also eliminate racially-biased standardized tests, expand financial assistance and recruitment in marginalized communities, support affinity groups, and much more. Join with us and sign Chinese for Affirmative Action’s petition to U.S. colleges and universities today.
Right now, many of us are seeing false information about this lawsuit, including that affirmative action hurts Asian Americans. Take a few minutes and speak up for racial justice today, or share our posts on Twitter and Instagram.
As Asian Americans, we have an even greater responsibility to stand with Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other communities of color today. Together, we will do everything we can to end the multi-generational harms of white supremacy and expand our multiracial solidarity in powerful movements for justice.