It’s About Access

You know I have to say something. The Supreme Court’s recent decision on Affirmative action can’t go unanswered by The Conflict Closer.

It’s about access and righting historical wrongs and harm. If you don’t know how many centuries of historical harm then you need to find out, but warning, it takes more than reading a couple of books. It takes intentional commitment and study.

So many conversations about this, so little time before the next massive hit comes, but one stood out and I’d like to examine it here.

“I didn’t realize that this wasn’t about taking black people and other people of color into colleges whether they were qualified or not,” said a White friend who is doing this work.

Such a telling statement from someone who most likely represents the deeper thinking of White folks who believe that equality and anti-racism work is necessary, but have not stopped to examine what they truly believe about this.

“Are they qualified?”
Why wouldn’t they be?

“Are we just making sure that there are a certain amount and therefore letting folks in purely based on skin color alone, which is fine with me given the historical injustice.”
Is that the intention? Access without any academic or experiential qualifications?

“I read that the group that has benefited the most has been White women, so that is good for women, right?”
Legal loop hole? Does it benefit all women?

It’s time for some truth folks. It’s a perfect time to start wrestling with deeper thoughts and beliefs. If you even had the tiniest thought that Affirmative Action in education has led to a lot of unqualified admits into some of the finer schools, then who did you by default think the qualified candidates were? Hmmmm…

Yes, I am primarily talking to my folks who identify as White, but we are all swimming in the same waters which means that this time for examining our deeper thinking is open to us all. Do you believe in the “model minority”, stereotype or any of the other stereotypes out there that shape the way we think about other communities of color?

Because it’s about access to the information deeply lodged within us whether we want it to be there or not. We have to access it, face ourselves honestly with these questions, answer, sit in our feelings about it, feel it, let it work us and fire us up to get to work.

We have two new free resources for you to work with around some of these questions.

One specifically for you if you identify as White and are truly concerned about racism here.

The other one is this juicy conversation that I had with Jennifer Kem about the Supreme Court decision and what that means for the Black, African American and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Watch my interview here.