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A Disturbing Black Shibboleth
Black law professor Stephen L. Carter released the controversial book Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby in 1991. In the chapter “Silencing Dissent,” Carter asserted that race-conscious affirmative action had become a shibboleth.
The word shibboleth comes from an Old Testament story that took place in the land of Gilead. After defeating an invading army, Gilead soldiers blocked all escape routes. Any man wishing to leave Gilead was required to enunciate shibboleth, which the inhabitants of Gilead uniquely pronounced, and anyone who mispronounced it was deemed an enemy and executed.
In modern times, the term shibboleth has become a metaphor for a test used to determine who is an authentic member of a group.
According to Carter, there was a “correct way” to discuss affirmative action in Black America. Black people were expected to argue that affirmative action was a “simple matter of justice” and the “minimum a racist society ought to offer the victims of its oppression.” However, if a Black person disagreed, it was like mispronouncing shibboleth, and that person was labeled a traitor who should be expelled from the Black community.
In 2023, the United States Supreme Court overturned affirmative action.
The ruling not only ended race-conscious admissions programs at colleges and universities, but it also eliminated a long-held…