Supreme Court cancels college affirmative action programs. Cape Codders weigh in.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action policies on Thursday at two major American colleges, scrambling a decades-old effort to diversify campuses as the nation continues to grapple with race.

The ruling will require Harvard and the University of North Carolina to rework their admissions polices and could have reverberations across the country as other colleges come to terms with its implications. The decision may also impact the American workforce and the court itself.

Jeanne Morrison, a local activist and Hyannis resident, said the decision was disturbing, but not surprising.

"It’s par for course of the practices of the USA and the longtime legacy of how Black and Indigenous people are treated," Morrison said. "There's been an aggressive, organized strategic plan to empower white supremacy and uproot progress and civil rights since former President Barack Obama was elected in 2008."

Phyllis Sprout, a Mashpee resident and vice chair of the Mashpee Republican Town Committee, said discrimination and legal preferential treatment based on race is happening all over the world — and it isn't a good thing. "I happen to like the decision. It was well reasoned," Sprout said. "It will have a lot of emotional reaction, but people can't lean on a particular feature as a reason to give preferential treatment in education."

Opponents of the decision are speaking out

Barbara Burgo, co-founding member of the Cape Cod Cape Verdean Museum and Cultural Center in Falmouth, said she's heavy-hearted about the decision, but said it wasn't a shock. She pointed to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's interpretation of the law and her understanding of affirmative action based on racial disparities she believes still exist in the United States.

"This country is infused with the original sin of slavery," said Burgo. "That history, and that legacy ensured that Black people, and brown-skinned people were not afforded opportunities equal to whites. How do we catch up?" Nancy Thompson of NAACP Cape Cod said the decision was perverse and disappointing. It gives the impression, she said, that race shouldn't be considered in decisions concerning education. But race was used as a way to control and withhold education from Black people for hundreds of years.

"Whether people know it or not, there are inherent biases that we all endure. It has to be pointed out, rooted out, and disrupted. And I thought an affirmative action policy was a way to do that," Thompson said.

A supporter of the decision read 'Inside American Education' by Thomas Sowell

When Americans were anticipating a decision about affirmative action from the U.S. Supreme Court, Sprout said she started reading "Inside American Education," a book written by Thomas Sowell. Sowell is a Black college economics teacher who is opposed to affirmative action in his classroom. Sprout said reading his book convinced her that affirmative action is unnecessary.

"He felt that affirmative action is an excuse that his students were using to not work hard," she said. "It was interesting to get that wider scope of opinion."

Members of Chatham Republican Town Committee, Cape Cod Women's Republican Club, and Cape Cod Republican Club and state Rep. Steven Xiarhos, R-Barnstable, did not return calls by the Times requesting comment about the decision.

Has the Supreme Court become more about partisanship and politics?

The Rev. Wesley Williams, a retired pastor of the Orleans United Methodist Church, said the Supreme Court has become biased in a conservative and uninformed view. In the early 1960s when former President Lyndon B. Johnson began initiating affirmative action policies, Williams said there was controversy and pushback from American people. But there was clear, balanced democracy within the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Affirmative action was the law of the land and the Supreme Court stood firm," he said. "They provided leadership. People tended to fall in line because of that clear leadership."

Thompson said opinions coming out of the Supreme Court are becoming more extreme.

More education about affirmative action could help

Williams said average Americans need to learn what affirmative action is and educate themselves on the history surrounding inequities for marginalized groups like Black and Native American people.

"It's important that everyone has the same chance to go to a college and a university," he said. "But everyone does not have the same chance — and they never did throughout history. Until we can bring everybody up to par, we need affirmative action."

Debra Dagwan, a former teacher at Springfield College, said the affirmative action decision will emphasize racial disparities at colleges and universities, and will impact all students in a negative way.

"We have some great innovators within Black and brown-skinned communities that can help solve real problems in the world," she said. "Education isn't something we should take so lightly. We need each other and we can expand our knowledge and learn about one another and be more creative together."

It's frustrating for Dagwan that a battle for equitable education exists.

"It's becoming a race thing when it shouldn't be. We should be excited to have programs that can help find the brightest minds and take people where they are at," said Dagwan, a board member of Amplify POC Cape Cod.

It's ironic, she said, that schools will take Black athletes for their physical abilities, but won't necessarily expand opportunities for Black people on academics.

"When a child of color can kick, throw and catch a ball, they can get into the top schools. And that's great. But there's also a dichotomy there," she said. "We are willing to open up the door and not push them away, but yet want to push away those who have strength in other areas."

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape opponents, supporter react to court affirmative action ruling