Why did it take the Supreme Court to decide discrimination against whites was illegal (link no longer available)?
Punishing whites because minorities failed to meet the standards of the job is a form of racism. We can argue till the cows come how about the disparities in minority opportunity. But it doesn't change the fact that standards are in place for a reason. Is it acceptable to lower the standards for a defined job for the sole purpose of increasing minority participation? By doing so, you are making the presumption that minorities are by default less capable. That in itself is a racist idea and lowers the standards for all to participate. This mentality is a race to the bottom.
Let's take medical school for example. If the minimum requirement at Harvard was a 30 on your MCAT and a 3.5 GPA, would you keep out a white student with a 4.0 GPA and a 35 on their MCAT because not enough blacks meet the standard admission criteria? Of course not. If there cannot be equal standards for all, there should not be any standards at all. Setting different standards based on race is in itself racism. Punishing one race for their success because another race failed to meet the required standards is racism.
And the Supreme Court got it right. It's just too bad it took the High Court to see that.
I'm not a lawyer but, from what I understand about the case, I think all courts involved ruled exactly as they should.
ReplyDeleteThe Connecticut fire dept, in throwing out the test that would have allowed for the promotion of mostly white firefighters (because they did the best on the test) was only trying to follow federal law, i.e. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which could be interpreted to mean that race must be taken into account when deciding whom to promote.
My understanding is that, in saying race must not be taken into account in this situation, this is a more activist ruling which weakens previously existing federal law. Which is fine - but I think the Supreme Court is the appropriate place for that decision to be made.
they got it right but just barely 5-4. Pretty disappointing IMHO
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