Affirmative Action Myths
As we pointed out yesterday, students at Berkeley have drawn a lot of fire this week for their purposefully racist bake sale, meant to draw attention to a state Senate bill (SB 185) awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature. The bill “would allow California public universities to take race into consideration during the admissions process.” (Berkeley Patch)
While the Berkeley College Republicans, the group that sponsored the “Increase Diversity Bake Sale,” may view its activity as “no more racist than giving an individual an advantage in college admissions based solely on their race or gender,” opponents of the BCR and its views have been quick to point to common misconceptions surrounding Affirmative Action and similar policies, including:
Effectiveness – “Several studies have documented important gains in racial and gender equality as a direct result of affirmative action”
Relevance – “Despite the progress that has been made, the playing field is far from level…without affirmative action the percentage of Black students at many selective schools would drop to only 2% of the student body”
Reverse Discrimination – “Even if every unemployed Black worker in the United States were to displace a White worker, only 1% of Whites would be affected.”
Those figures may be more than a decade old, but even as recently as last year, this video from MSNBC proved that the conversation surrounding Affirmative Action hasn’t really changed:
[video caption: Is Affirmative Action Still Needed? MSNBC April 2010]
So what do you think – Are policies like Affirmative Action and SB 185 still relevant? Are they inherently discriminatory? Are those two views mutually exclusive?
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