WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide the extent to which public schools can use race in deciding school assignments, setting the stage for a landmark affirmative action ruling.
Justices will hear appeals from a Seattle parents group and a Kentucky parent, ruling for the first time on diversity plans used by a host of school districts around the country.
Race cases have been difficult for the justices. The court's announcement that it will take up the cases this fall provides the first sign of an aggressiveness by the court under new Chief Justice John Roberts.
The court rejected a similar case in December when moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was still on the bench. The outcome of this case will turn on her successor, Samuel Alito.
''Looming in the background of this is the constitutionality of affirmative action,'' said Davison Douglas, a law professor at William and Mary. ''This is huge.'' (read entire article here...)
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i always flinch at those who say affirmative action is racism in reverse. first and foremost...white women have benefited SIGNIFICANTLY from affirmative action, because as women, they are considered a minority. so affirmative action has not only afforded greater opportunities for people of color, but it has also grown the white middle class (but you never hear about that do you?).
now...for the colored people that claim we are being crippled by affirmative action...the fact is, the playing field is not level. people of color (and economically disadvantaged people) do not have equal education. our schools are poor, failing, and do not have enough resources to teach our kids how to compete in the world. second-rate education limits our access to college, which limits our access to jobs. so to say...we should nix affirmative action to be fair, is laughable at best.
but this is my opion. i'm curious to know what you guys think of this issue. should we scrap it? fight to keep it? does AA give unfair advantages to minorities? is it racist against whites?
talk to me people.
Related Tags: affirmative action, supreme court, activism, racism, sexism, politics, cour ruling, debate, race, sex, justice
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As a college grad, I probably have benefited from AA. At this point in our cultural development as a nation of people, I think the fight for it is displaced. Forget about it and lets work to build our own schools, enliven the minds of our children so that they strive to be excellent and then we wont have to worry about getting into college, college will court us (not just for our athletic abilities) for our minds. We have been here 400 years and are still fighting. For what? We need to focus on strengthening family and community.
I don't think that after you have admittedly benefited you can take this position for those who are STILL being cut out systematically. What you offer can be conducted in conjunction with AA but clearly our policies still need to design themselves around making SURE the scales don’t become too imbalanced again (because they are still imbalanced)
As long as the white patriarchal majority is at the head of government, commerce and media, we need to hold their feet to the fire or as we have seen in the past, they will take off running in an attempt to leave us behind.