As Trump’s administration works to reverse all of Obama’s policies and programs, it should come as no surprise that his team is trying to repeal affirmative action. According to Wikipedia, affirmative action is the policy of a country protecting members of groups that have suffered from discrimination.
Because a Black man (Barack Obama) was elected president, many Americans think that discrimination no longer exists in this country. Everywhere you look around the country, Blacks and people of color are in position of authority, and many whites believe they are now being discriminated against.
“The whole issue of using race in education is being looked at with a new eye in light of the fact that it’s not just white students being discriminated against, but Asians and others as well,” said Roger Clegg, president and general counsel of the conservative Center for Equal Opportunity. “As demographics of the country change, it becomes more and more problematic.”
Back in the ’70s, when I was in college, many of my friends were poor, and they received scholarships as a result of affirmative action. Affirmative action was key to many being able to graduate and get a well-paying job. Many of these young people were first-generation college graduates in their family.
As second-generation and, in some cases, third-generation graduates were able to achieve a higher level of education, a higher percentage of Blacks and people of color have been able to experience the American Dream.
Many residents will have a different interpretation of what the American Dream represents. Some consider getting a college education as living the American dream. For some it’s moving to the suburbs. For others it’s starting a business or buying a new car. No matter what they think the American dream is, everyone living in the country wants a piece of it.
The Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with unalienable rights, which among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But with the election of President Trump, a transformation is taking place in the country, in which white supremacy and white men rule.
In a joint letter, the Education and Justice departments announced that they had rescinded seven Obama-era policy guidelines on affirmative action, which the departments said, “advocate policy preferences and positions beyond the requirements of the Constitution.”
Rescinding policy guidelines does not have the power and force of the law, but Trump is letting everyone know that there is a new sheriff in town, and equality and diversity will no longer be enforced. The Trump administration will be promoting race-neutral policies as opposed to race-based policies.
Quietly, the Trump administration is rolling back the government’s policies to the George W. Bush era. The administration has posted a policy document online that states, “The Department of Education strongly encourages the use of race-neutral methods for assigning students to elementary and secondary schools.”
Not only is Trump’s administration asking superintendents of elementary and secondary schools around the country to stop using race-based policies, but also he is expected to tell university presidents to use race-neutral admission policies. That will make it harder for African-Americans to get into college and pay for their education.
There has always been controversy in America over favoring African-American and minorities in the admission process. Many whites think that they are being discriminated against in the admission policy and the job market.
But racism is a system in which the dominant race benefits from the oppression of others, and that is the reason America still needs affirmative action. There have been decades of oppression and discrimination against Blacks and people of color, and affirmative action levels the playing field.