Discussion Thread on Affirmative Action

Interesting thread on affirmative action at Discriminations, instigated by a report on another affirmative action bake sale, this time countered by an unwittingly self-revealing counter-sale by campus Democrats.

My take on it is that there may be entirely good reasons for AA today, such as to repair actual, identified harms to individuals (as opposed to entire groups). King's statement seems to be a recognition that blacks as a group at that time were substantially disadvantaged and unable to compete with whites (at the very least, this was almost universally true in the South).

Nonetheless, supporters of group AA, however well-intentioned they may be, have to acknowledge that the underpinning of their position is that blacks and latinos are unable to compete academically with whites and Asians today. Set aside for now the debate on why; this is the essential underpinning (it is in fact the premise of Dr. King's statement quoted above). It is not a remedy to address slavery because if it is, the inclusion of latinos is inexplicable. If it is a remedy to address past discrimination, then the exclusion of other minority groups that suffered past discrimination in the U.S., including Asians and Jews, is equally inexplicable. Once this is acknowledged, the debate on why begins, but it still starts off with a rather odious premise.

Those who disagree with the concept of group AA, including this commenter, reject this premise today and instead believe that to the extent the "why" debate points to factors such as poverty or lack of access, etc., then AA programs could be targeted to individuals for whom these factors apply without the reference to race. This would likely be acceptable to many persons opposed to AA, but likely not to those invested in the notion of AA as a group right.