The End of Affirmative Action.
Civil rights advocates brace for the worst.
Affirmative action has a long history in the United States, beginning with the labor movement in the 1930s. But over time, the country and the courts developed a far more narrow definition with respect to the college and university admissions process. Today, the vestiges of affirmative action are once again under attack and likely to fall apart completely under the conservative Trump court. In this episode, we review the history of affirmative action, how it came to be settled law and why it’s likely to be stripped away.
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Show Notes
Clips
Episode Timestamp + Link | Clip Link
- 00:00:04 | C-SPAN: Justice Scalia on African American student admissions to UT Austin and "lesser schools"
- 00:09:09 | C-SPAN: Landmark Cases: Regents of the University of California v Bakke
- 00:14:34 | Run DMC: It's Tricky
- 00:49:10 | placeboing: Gay Frogs (Alex Jones REMIX)
Resources
- Smithsonian Magazine: The Origins of the Term ‘Affirmative Action’
- National Archives: Executive Order 11478 - Equal employment opportunity in the Federal Government
- National Archives: Executive Order 8802 - Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941)
- The New York Times Magazine: Why Is Affirmative Action in Peril? One Man’s Decision.
- ACLU: What You Need to Know about Affirmative Action at the Supreme Court
- ACLU: Meet Edward Blum, the Man Who Wants to Kill Affirmative Action in Higher Education
- The New York Times: He Took On the Voting Rights Act and Won. Now He’s Taking On Harvard
- Mother Jones: Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement
- The Federal Reserve: Wealth Inequality and the Racial Wealth Gap
- Economic Policy Institute: Understanding black-white disparities in labor market outcomes requires models that account for persistent discrimination and unequal bargaining power
- Brookings: Unequal Opportunity: Race and Education
- The Atlantic: Justice Jackson’s Crucial Argument About Affirmative Action
UNFTR Resources
- Episode: America, Inc.
UNFTR Quick Links