The civil rights strategy
The affirmative action strategy
The equal opportunity strategy
The only fair and effective way to achieve racial equality is by scrupulously adhering to the principle of equality under the law. Racial justice requires a comprehensive public effort to break down discriminatory barriers, redress individual grievances, and ensure equal treatment in education, in the workplace, and elsewhere. The Constitution promises equal opportunity, not equal results. The government's obligation is to ensure that the rules of the game are the same for everyone. Beyond that, no further public action to help individuals is consistent with our political beliefs.
It is not enough for government to be concerned with individual acts of discrimination. A nation dedicated to the principle of equal treatment has to recognize the enduring legacy of racial discrimination and compensate for it. Groups that have traditionally experienced discrimination, and continue to experience discrimination, must be given preferential treatment to facilitate progress toward racial equality. Racial justice is achieved when there is evidence of roughly equal results -- for example, a proportionate number of individuals of various races who hold good-paying jobs.
The major barrier to racial equality today is not racial bias or discrimination but poverty- related conditions that keep many members of minority groups from becoming literate and employable, and prevent them from moving into the American mainstream. Only when government provides the material prerequisites for a decent life -- including quality early education for everyone -- does equality of opportunity exist. The most promising way to achieve racial equality is by taking additional measures to provide an equal opportunity to everyone, regardless of race.
The civil rights strategy
The affirmative action strategy
The equal opportunity strategy
What should be done?
Put the promise of equal rights into practice by enforcing the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and laws that prohibit discrimination in housing. Prohibit segregation in the workplace by initiating legal action, enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), whenever individuals suffer discrimination on the basis of race. Use the full force of the Justice Department to enforce sanctions in instances where individuals have suffered from discrimination. Forbid overt workplace discrimination (such as the refusal to hire applicants who are black, Asian or Hispanic) as well as more subtle discriminatory practices in the workplace (such as channeling members of racial minorities into lower paid, dead-end jobs).
Insist on evidence of racial diversity, which often requires analysing numbers to determine whether racial balance has been achieved. Maintain public measures to require racial diversity in schools and universities. Insist on evidence of roughly equal results in the workplace, equal access among members of different races to high-paying jobs, and equal payment for performance. Maintain affirmative action policies that require employers to ensure that groups historically discriminated against are treated fairly in recruitment and promotion decisions. Continue to use race as a consideration in university admissions decisions to correct racial imbalances and move toward the goal of racial diversity. Keep preferences in effect until parity is achieved.
Abandon race-based preferences and provide expanded public support for those who are disadvantaged regardless of race, such as additional assistance for poor, single mothers. Take immediate measures to improve public schools so kids who grow up in low-income neighborhoods have the same opportunity to succeed that other kids have. Rather than perpetuating racial preferences in their admissions policies, America's colleges and universities should take an active part in bolstering educational programs at the primary and secondary level, so all children have a fair start. Expand race-neutral programs that make a difference for poor people, including job skills training, comprehensive health care legislation, anti-crime efforts, and drug abuse prevention.
Arguments For This Approach
Under the Constitution, which is color-blind, the best way to help blacks and other racial minorities is by scrupulously adhering to the principle of equality under the law. The fundamental commitment of the American legal system is to the protection of personal rights, not the grievances of entire groups. The best way to advance the cause of racial justice is to apply the full force of the law whenever individuals have been discriminated against. The Constitution promises equal protection under the laws, not equal results. The public obligation is to ensure that individuals are free to engage in a fair competition for jobs, promotions, and other social goods. The civil rights laws protect the rights of racial minorities regarding education, employment, voting, access to public accommodations, and other matters. As long as those laws are consistently enforced, no further public measures are necessary.
Because entire racial groups were systematically denied opportunity in the past, remedies that apply to entire groups -- not just individuals who have suffered discrimination -- are needed to achieve racial equality. Preferential treatment for racial minorities is needed because discrimination persists, as the government proved in the 1990's in civil rights suits against Denny's restaurants, Texaco, and other firms. Since equality for African-Americans and other racial minorities is still a distant goal, certain forms of preferential treatment are still needed. It is quite common for members of certain groups -- such as veterans and college applicants whose parents attended the university -- to receive preferential treatment. We should be no less willing to grant such preferences to racial minorities. By insisting on racial diversity -- in the workplace, in schools and universities, and in local communities -- we permit routine contact among the races to take place, which over time will cause racist attitudes to dissolve. Affirmative action works. Due in large part to affirmative action, there have been significant gains over the past 20 years in minority employment, even in traditionally segregated trades such as sheet metal and electrical work.
Racial discrimination doesn't account for most of the inequities in American life today. The largest factor is that many people of all races lack the resources they need to move ahead. The main beneficiaries of affirmative action programs are middle-class minorities who do not need preferential treatment or special forms of public assistance. In a nation committed to equal treatment under the law, government has an obligation to help all individuals become self-reliant, regardless of their race. Equality of opportunity requires that the government take measures to help people deal with the problems associated with poverty. Assistance should be provided according to need, not on the basis of race. Deficient schools are the main reason some young people -- including many minority kids -- experience difficulty entering the economic mainstream.
Arguments Against This Approach
Most discrimination is subtle. The grievance procedures provided by the civil rights laws are impractical because only a small percentage of victims can prove discriminatory intent. Laws guaranteeing equal rights cannot compensate for the advantages whites gained over a period of more than 300 years of preferential treatment. To achieve the goal of racial equality, we need something more than a legal watchdog. Government has to assume certain affirmative obligations. It's not sufficient to focus on individual instances of racial discrimination. To deal with the underlying causes of inequality, every child has to be guaranteed an equal opportunity, including sound nutrition and a good education.
Group remedies that take race into account amount to state-sanctioned discrimination by reason of race, which turns the principle of a color-blind society on its head. Affirmative action violates the principle that hiring and promotion should be based solely on merit, that the most qualified person should get the job. Preferences for minorities underscore the inferiority and low self-esteem that affirmative action programs were intended to correct. Affirmative action has fueled resentment against racial minorities and produced a backlash. Discriminatory barriers have largely broken down, so preferential treatment is no longer needed. Race-specific remedies offered to entire racial groups -- whether black, Hispanic, Asian-American or Native American -- are misdirected and unjustified. The fundamental problem is the persistence of educational and economic disadvantage, not racial discrimination.
Racial minorities still need and deserve special consideration because of the obstacles they have experienced. It is not sufficient to promise a new round of anti-poverty efforts. Racial minorities need specially tailored remedies. Most government anti-poverty efforts make the poor more dependent on government, thus undermining the sense of self-sufficiency needed to move into the middle class. It is unrealistic to think that the best way to reduce racial inequality is to mount a broad attack on poverty. The problem of poverty may be unresolvable, but much can be done to achieve racial equity. There is little public support for expanded anti-poverty efforts like welfare.
The civil rights strategy
The affirmative action strategy
The equal opportunity strategy
Q: What are the costs and likely consequences of each course of action?
A:
To systematically enforce the civil rights laws would require vastly
expanded efforts by the Justice Department and more government
monitoring of business, schools, and American life.
A:
One cost of maintaining affirmative action policies in college
admissions and promotion decisions is that racial minorities would
sometimes be chosen over better-qualified whites.
A:
Improving public programs and schools low-income families would impose
a substantial public expense, and require higher taxes or reductions in
other programs.
Q: What does fairness require in the nation's efforts to achieve racial equality?
A:
Fairness in American society means that everyone should play by the
same rules, and no one should be held back by discrimination. It means
scrupulous adherence to the principle of equality under the law.
A:
Fairness requires that when entire groups have been held back for
centuries because of discrimination, they deserve certain forms of
special assistance to catch up.
A:
Fairness requires that government assistance be provided on the basis of need, not race.
Q: What would be the impact of cutting back or eliminating racial preferences in college admissions decisions?
A:
Eliminating affirmative action criteria would allow colleges to judge
applicants solely on the basis of individual merit, which is consistent
with our commitment to equal justice.
A:
Eliminating affirmative action would remove the best way to achieve
diversity on the nation's campuses. It would also seriously impair the
ability of minority students to move into good-paying jobs and
professions, where racial minorities have long been under represented.
A:
Eliminating racial criteria in admissions decisions would be
acceptable, as long we take other public actions, such as bolstering
public schools to raise the achievement levels of all kids, regardless
of race or income.
Talk It Over