Stephen Carter's "Affirmative Distraction"

Commenting on the thirtieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Stephen Carter writes that "[w]e still fight over affirmative action and pretend it means we're fighting over racial justice. We debate its pros and cons in order to avoid coming to grips with more fundamental challenges." In Carter's view, "University affirmative action programs, whatever their benefits, are no remedy for the problems of the black poor." And restructuring such programs "would in the end, like the Bakke decision, amount to more tinkering around the edges. Unless racial justice one again becomes the centerpiece of American politics, with both parties willing to rethink their positions, those who are suffering most from our legacy of racial oppression will continue to fall further behind."

For my own views on this subject, see On Palliative, Palatable, and Paralytic Affirmatve Action, Grutter-Style, in Law, Culture & Africana Studies 103 (James L. Conyers. Jr., ed. 2008).