Today, the Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision in two cases – Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard University– that will effectively eliminate affirmative action in post-secondary education for all non-white people. Michael Harriot reminds us, “Admission preferences for legacies, donors, employee families, and special recommendations are still allowed.¹”

Edward Blum, the extreme conservative behind SFFA, began his 30+ year campaign against race-based laws after a failed run for Congress in the early ‘90s². In his march toward “colorblindness,” Blum has conveniently ignored America’s original legal colorism, such as the law that enforced lifetime servitude on the basis of skin color³. Blum recruited a group of first-generation Asian American students to challenge race-based affirmative action policies, as the students are simultaneously representatives of diversity and “victims” of race-conscious policy⁴.

In the majority opinion, authored by Chief Justice Roberts, the court holds affirmative action must end in order to end all race-based state actions such as segregation or interracial marriage, as if intentionally diversifying a college student body is the same as segregating drinking fountains. In her powerful dissent, Justice Brown Jackson explained that racism is baked into most laws in the United States such as redlining, Jim Crow laws, and the GI Bill. “Our country has never been colorblind.⁵” As an organization that serves Black people and other marginalized groups, the Louisville Urban League is neither surprised nor discouraged by the ruling. We will continue our anti-racist work and we trust that our allies will do the same.

Unfortunately, the plaintiffs in these cases do not know or do not care about the true history of America, only the American mythology–the idea that college admissions and societal advancement are based solely on merit. Moreover, these students have internalized white supremacist stereotypes such as the model minority and the inherent lower intelligence of Black people. Still, we reject the reduction of all Asian Americans to an adversary in a battle for everyone’s equality. We appreciate our Asian American allies who not only reject the white supremacist tropes but who also understand the complicated history of an America that has redlined Asian communities in major cities while exploiting them for labor, interned Japanese American citizens, and then granted them reparations⁶.

Since the inception of the United States, the one percent has created many false narratives of racial animus in order to economically control America. This ruling only solidifies a false narrative which Lyndon B. Johnson summed up this way: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.⁷”

In practice and policy, the Louisville Urban League is an organization dedicated to remedying inequality. Long ago, the language of remedy and repair was erased from affirmative action policies and replaced by language about diversity. Hence, we will not be pulled into this political theater. As outlined in the preamble to A Path Forward, the need for systemic restructuring is a given⁸. That work has been and is being done.

Over the past few years, many universities have changed their policies to do away with admissions criteria that present barriers to the groups imagined in the original enforcement of affirmative action policies. We expect that work to continue. Predominantly white colleges and universities must continue to strive to amend their outreach, recruitment, and enrollment strategies to ensure that a diverse population of students is thriving. And we must continue to invest in, promote, and enhance Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Service Institutions (HSIs) to ensure that the rich history and culturally affirming spaces they provide endure, as they always have, in the face of these white supremacist outbursts. Amnesic policy will not be our undoing, even when that policy comes from the Supreme Court.

We have come too far. We won’t stop marching forward.

¹ Harriot, Michael [@Michealharriet]. (2023, June 29). Before you begin your thinkpiece, the Supreme Court DID NOT strike down Affirmative Action…[Tweet]. Twitter.

²  Mandery, E. (2023, June 16). How White People Stole Affirmative Action — and Ensured Its Demise. Politico.

³ Higganbotham, Jr., A.L. (1978, May 21). Virginia Led the Way In Legal Oppression. Washington Post.

⁴  Li, B. (2022, October 28) Being race-conscious is a necessary and effective tool to address racism and discrimination — including for Asian Americans. SCOTUSblog.

⁵ Students for Fair Admissions vs. President and Fellows of Harvard College (2023)

⁶ Rosario, I. (2020, March 24). The Unlikely Story Behind Japanese Americans’ Campaign For Reparations. National Public Radio.

⁷ Moyers, B.D.  (1988, November 13). What a Real President Was Like. Washington Post.

⁸  A Path Forward for Louisville. (2020, June 19)

About the Louisville Urban League
The Louisville Urban League assists African Americans and those at the margins in attaining social and economic equality and stability through direct services and advocacy. For more information, go to lul.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter  (@louisvilleUL), or Instagram (@louisville_ul).