Affirmative action led to a more-level playing field. Will history go backward now? | Opinion

When the Supreme Court of the United States outlawed affirmative action, declaring that race can’t be a factor in college admissions, I thought: Will there also be a ruling that would outlaw racism in the entire United States of America?

Oh, I forgot. We already have a law for that.

There are rules on the books that say it is unlawful to discriminate against anyone simply because of his or her race. But the rules don’t always work. That is why affirmative action in education was, and still is, so important — to boost the numbers of Blacks and other historically underrepresented minorities in the elite institutions from which the United States draws so many of its leaders.

I agree with those who say that a person should be judged by his/her skills and/or talents, rather than by the color of their skin. You and I know that in a perfect world, that is how it would be.

But we don’t live in a perfect world. Sit down a minute and hear me out.

As you know, I have lived for a very long time. At 85, I am thankful for my longevity, and I’ve witnessed a lot of history. Now, sadly, I am witnessing a boomerang effect of policies that helped many deserving and well-qualified Black students and other minority students enroll at Ivy League universities like Harvard as well as at competitive public universities such as the University of North Carolina.

The very fact that we had to have affirmative action in the first place is because the playing field was never level — not for Blacks and many other minorities.

When affirmative action began to make its way into the nation’s public policy — it was introduced in the 1960s, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the concept for college admissions in 1978 — many people, Blacks included, argued against it. Some Blacks felt a bit insulted; they said it was a putdown — that the world would not look at their educational credentials, only the color of their skin, if they were accepted in one of the Ivy League universities because of affirmative action. And I am sure that happened at times.

But those who were the beneficiaries of affirmative action, in the words of the late poet Langston Hughes, didn’t make it by climbing “no crystal stair.” In other words, affirmative action policies did not make it easier for those students in the classroom. It just helped them to get their feet in the door. After that, they were on their own.

Believe me, it is not easy for these students — in any era, but especially in the 1960s as many majority-white schools began admitting minority students. In addition to having to fight racism (affirmative action didn’t change the heart of the racists) on every hand, the students were always under the magnifying glass, being scrutinized. Many described the insults they endured from some of their professors, as well as from their classmates.

And yet, had it not been for affirmative action, they might still be scrambling to get their feet inside the door of some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges.

Addressing centuries of inequities

I am not alone. This from the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA:

“The National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA vehemently opposes the U.S, Supreme Court decision in “Students for Fair Admission v President and Fellows of Harvard College” to eliminate the consideration of race and ethnicity from the college admissions process. The decision reverses decades of legal precedent and progress in providing equitable access to higher education for Black Americans and other racial groups who have endured the shackles of structural and systemic discrimination for centuries…”

Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton, Chair of the religious organization’s governing board continued by saying, “Refusing to remedy the wrongs of the past does not erase them. It only exacerbates and magnifies the negative effects they have had. Unfortunately, the nation and some of our most vulnerable citizens will pay the price for the egregious ruling.”

As Jefferson-Snorton indicates, the educational playing field is not, and never was level. Still affirmative action offered hope. And therefore, America and its educational institutions should be growing in its efforts to make it equitable for Blacks and other minorities who have endured centuries of unfair rules and bonds that kept them from equal access to higher education.

A personal reflection

When I came to work for The Miami Herald in 1966 as a file clerk in the paper’s library, anti-discrimination policies were just taking hold in the workplace.

I was hired in December of 1965, just one year and seven months after President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964, and I started work the next month. The new law made it illegal to discriminate in public places and provided for the integration of schools and other public facilities. The law, passed by Congress, also made employment discrimination illegal. (A few years earlier, in 1961, President John F. Kennedy had used the words “affirmative action” in an executive order to ensure equal opportunities in the workforce for all U.S. citizens.)

So, when I was searching the “Help Wanted” ads in the newspaper, I always looked for the ads that said, “We are an equal opportunity employer.” In most cases, the phrase was a blatant lie and had only been added because it was legally required. The ad I answered for The Herald’s file clerk position had those magic words, but somehow, I felt this was different.

I answered the ad by writing a letter of application because there was no phone number to call, just a post office box address. I guess my letter impressed somebody because I was hired.

One of my friends said, “But you were not hired just because you were Black…” But I was. Because of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, things were a-changing in America, and I was ripe for the change.

However, once I was in the workplace, I knew that I wasn’t “equally” employed. My starting salary back then was $60 a week plus benefits that included paid vacations each year. It was a good deal for me. As a domestic worker in private homes, I didn’t have any benefits, not even one sick day. So, when my younger son Shawn, who was only 5 at the time, overheard me tell my mom how much I would make on the new job, he jumped up and down shouting, “Mommie! Mommie! We’re rich! We’re rich!”

Yet right after I was hired, the paper hired two other file clerks who were only a year or two beyond their high school graduations. Their starting salary was $70 a week, $10 more than what I, a widowed mom of two, was hired for. But then, they were white. It was not fair. White supremacy had reared its ugly head.

So, my friends, my experience is why I can see and understand both sides of the affirmative action coin.

That’s why I thank God for my faith. I wouldn’t have made it this far without my faith in God. He has been my affirmative action for all these years.

Not everyone shares my faith. I know that. Which is another reason why, I believe, we need affirmative action. We need it to help keep the educational playing field level, which also trickles down to the workplace.

That’s just the way it is, folks.

Reach Bea L. Hines at bea.hines@gmail.com