It is a commonplace that people get more conservative as they get older. I was pleased with today’s Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action. Of course, you might say. What would one expect from an old white guy.
Actually I opposed affirmative action the way it was implemented from day one. I certainly have no problem with the way I think the Johnson administration intended it–colleges and universities recruit, encourage, and assist minority groups to apply and help students once they are admitted. The quotas, the headcounts–that’s what bothered me. The idea that one might be admitted to a college based on the race of one’s parents was anathema to me.
I also believed it would pit minority groups against each other. That is precisely what happened. Informal quotas or limits were put on Asian applicants, much like those imposed on Jewish applicants decades ago.
Finally, socialist that I am, I believed that class was far more important an issue than race or ethnicity. Poor people don’t get into college in America, no matter what their race or gender.
When Hartnell College in Salinas implemented its affirmative action plan in 1974, I spoke out against it. The president of the college, in front of a room full of people, then implied that I was a racist. Nope. Not me. It is the doctrine that was racist, and I believe the Court was right. I don’t often say that.
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