New England Blacks in Philanthropy's Statement on the Supreme Court’s Decision to Ban Affirmative Action
Yesterday, just ten days after Juneteenth, came the sobering realization that we may be at the beginning of the dismantling of reparations. This is not just about race. Gender, culture, identity and other isms will follow, because they won’t have to see us anymore.
This is not just a forward step to ban affirmative action in college admission. It is a deliberate refusal of responsibility. To say that school cannot use race is intentional. The expectation that only 2.5 generations would make up for 20 generations of exclusion from higher education is delusional.
As descendants of Africans who were enslaved in the US, we are keenly aware of what this decision means. It is setting the stage to erase the debt that is owed to us for hundreds of years of deprivation, denying us the right to obtain an education that our blood, sweat, tears and taxes paid for. Our race mattered when we were denied a fair opportunity for education in segregated schools. Our race mattered when justifying inadequate funding of our schools. Now as we rise up to receive a small slice of the educational pie, our race no longer matters?
Yet again, we are failing our true calling of being a full democracy. When we have the chance to stand up and do the right thing, we fall down on the sword of so-called blindness. This same blindness is calling for the burning of books and erasing our history as if it didn’t happen – because we are uncomfortable reckoning with the cost of our past actions.
This is an affront to our ancestors who were denied over and over again the opportunity of an education. We are a race-conscience nation until it matters. It matters. Juneteenth was a reminder of what was taken from us, a reminder of the repair that is needed, a reminder that we are owed something for all that we have endured. We are owed educational reparations for all that we were denied. This is indeed a sad day for justice, for not just Black people, but for all of us who will be erased.
So, let’s use our energy to support our HBCUs and other schools affirming who we are and fully aware that race matters. Michelle Obama’s tweet is a reminder of what we can do, and she said it best: "When they go low, we go high." Below is a list of NEBiP's recommended organizations to support. Our work will continue forward until the arc of the moral universe returns to bend towards justice.
In Solidarity,
Bithah Carter
