Is Racial Neutrality a Bizarre Concept?
Recently, a black columnist warned her readers that the Supreme Court was going to strike down affirmative action like it did Roe v. Wade.
Students for Fair Admissions, a group that represents 20,000 students, parents, and others, challenged Harvard University’s affirmative action policies for violating the equal protection clause, eroding efforts toward a colorblind society, and discriminating against Asian Americans. SFFA believes that institutions of higher learning can achieve diversity through race-neutral methods.
The columnist condemned SFFA for two reasons.
1). The bizarre concept of “race-neutrality” is historical denial and nothing more than virulent anti-blackness.
2). Anti-blackness is woven into the fabric of our nation, and affirmative action, minority set-asides, and other race-conscious remedies are merely the antidote to historical structural racism.
How does the columnist justify these counterclaims when the issue is that affirmative action policies discriminate against Asian Americans? She asserted that Asian Americans are “white-adjacent” who embrace white privilege and anti-blackness. The term “anti-blackness” replaces “racism” and puts the focus on what harms black people rather than all people of color.