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Did Microaggressions Undermine Affirmative Action?
Affirmative action proponents have always considered it a form of racial justice. These policies were supposed to make up for past discrimination. To do this, several colleges set aside a specified number of slots for minorities. White students believed racial justice was well intentioned, but it resulted in reverse discrimination.
In 1978, the Supreme Court ruled that race could be used as a factor in college admissions.
Justice Lewis Powell made an important distinction between corrective measures and educational benefits. He ruled that schools could not utilize affirmative action to rectify past discrimination and that racial quota systems were unconstitutional. On the other hand, increasing campus diversity was a worthy goal. Students of all races, not just minorities, would benefit from being exposed to different people and perspectives.
Although Justice Powell ruled out affirmative action as a corrective measure for past racism, proponents of racial justice recognized that he did not rule out affirmative action as a countermeasure to present-day racism.
This is how “diversity” became a loaded term.
For proponents of racial justice, “increasing diversity” meant rectifying present-day racism, and the educational benefits Justice Powell championed were…