Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Im very disappointed said Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper an attorney constitutional law commentator and former member of the faculty at the George Mason University School of Law. Once again the Supreme Court had the chance to banish the role of race in school admissions. In the 21st century we should be able to move past the shibboleth that the race of the other students in the classroom is relevant to your ability to learn.
Leaders of the Project 21 Black Leadership Network are expressing disappointment over the decision handed down this morning by the U.S. Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas a key affirmative action case.
The high court ruled that the race-conscious admissions program at the time of Abigail Fishers application to the University of Texas is lawful under the Equal Protection Clause.
In this case with no showing of bias or race-based hostility and with the option of a very workable race-neutral admissions alternative the Supreme Court chose to allow schools to use the race of a college applicant as a relevant selection criteria. said Cooper.
With the Pacific Legal Foundation and others Project 21 submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the case in September and has twice before submitted friend of the court briefs in Fisher (here and here).
Instead of these constant arguments about affirmative action Id like to see as many resources and as much attention paid to properly educating black students regardless of socio-economic status as is being paid to preserving racial preferences. Academic set asides actually diminish a black students chance of graduating from college; by placing them in environments that they are ill-prepared to be a part of.
Instead of looking at forcing students into elite universities lets address the root issue low academic performance said Project 21s Stacy Washington host of the Stacy on the Right Show broadcast on 97.1 FM News Talk KFTK out of St. Louis Missouri.
Black students come into kindergarten with fewer words spoken to them over the beginning of their lives. They know fewer sight words and cannot count as high as their white counterparts. This deficiency widens over time resulting in a lower probability that they can compete in extremely competitive academic environments. This is easily rectified. End these set asides and place the focus on teaching parents how to prepare their children for school Washington said. Reading 20 minutes a day. Limiting TV viewing to the weekends only. Placing academics at the top of the priority list. Asking your children questions listening to their thoughts. Eating dinner together. These things provide an environment that produces children that can compete with others regardless of race. Lets spend some capital on teaching parents that Washington concluded. I cannot say that I know all the details of the case which will be forthcoming said Project 21s Niger Innis of the Congress of Racial Equality.But in this day and age where we are several decades away from segregation and a country where the definition of what it means to be a minority African-American and/or black is not as simple nor as one dimensional as it once was; we need a reimagining and redefinition of Affirmative Action. A program that should be character-based socio-economically-based vs. race- or gender-based. A poor person of any color a socio-economically deprived individual who demonstrates a character quotient to overcome and do extraordinary academic work has earned special consideration and benefit of affirmative action Innis added.One is not born with virtue because ones gender happens to be female as opposed to male; nor black as opposed to white nor because a surname is Hispanic as opposed to Anglo. Virtue comes with acts not birth Innis concluded. By upholding the use of race in college admissions the United States Supreme Court has once again made it impossible for aspiring non-white students to succeed on their own academic merits without there being a question mark attached to them said Project 21s Darryn Dutch Martin. Racial preferences will forever represent a dark cloud over the heads of every minority student no matter how academically conscientious and hard-working who wants to be taken seriously based on his or her individual accomplishments and work ethic alone. Project 21 has released six press releases in the Fisher case since 2011 (here here here here here and here) quoting many of its leaders.
Video and audio recordings of very many Project 21 leaders discussing affirmative action on television and radio can be found on the National Center for Public Policy Research YouTube page. A Project 21 policy luncheon on the Schuette affirmative action case featuring Jennifer Gratz can also be viewed on the National Center YouTube page.
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