Affirmative Action is in jeopardy

Hobb servation Point

By Chuck Hobbs

Affirmative Action, at least as we have known it since the end of the Civil Rights era, may soon vanish if the Students for Fair Admissions (S.F.F.A.), a group challenging admissions policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina in the latest U.S. Supreme Court term, has it way.

During oral arguments last fall, the S.F.F.A. averred that these prestigious predominantly white institutions’ desire for “diversity” is “grievously wrong” and produces “crude stereotyping.”

Sigh...

To begin, today’s blog is not another swipe at those who didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016, a move that allowed President Donald Trump to appoint three conservatives, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, to tilt the court 6-3 to the ideological right. No, my purpose today is to remind that long before we ever could have imagined a Trump presidency, the seeds to eliminate race as a factor in hiring, admissions, and contracting was already well under way across the United States.

In fact, from the time that Democratic Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson first started issuing executive orders in

Mekha the 1960’s to affirmatively remedy past discrimination against Blacks, many whites across the ideological spectrum immediately cried “foul” and introduced what I often call a legal oxymoron, “reverse discrimination against whites,” into the American English lexicon. Oxymoron, I submit, because when, in the history of ever, have Black folks had the power to prevent white folks, en masse, from attending school, obtaining bank loans, buying property, eating in a restaurant, trying on clothes, or being treated at a hospital? Black folks never had such power... Digressing, while the Kennedy, Johnson, and (Richard) Nixon administrations directed federal agencies and publicly funded institutions to initiate measures to increase minority hiring and enrollment, from the first, these efforts were called “quotas” and criticized as promoting less qualified Black candidates over whites—even when the data proved that objective measures were often identical or in many cases, higher for talented Black candidates. One of the first serious legal challenges to Affirmative Action occurred in 1978 when the United States Supreme Court rendered its decision in the Bakke vs. the University of California Board of Regents case. Allan Bakke, the petitioner, was born in 1940 and raised in segregated Miami, Florida, where he graduated from then all-white Coral Gables High School before attending the University of Minnesota.

During college, Bakke enrolled in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and upon graduation, was commissioned and later served a tour of duty in Vietnam, where he rose to the rank of Captain.

After leaving the military in 1972, Bakke, then 32 years old, applied for admission to medical school at both the University of Southern California and Northwestern, two private schools that rejected him, in part, due to his age.

In 1973, Bakke applied to medical school at the relatively new University of CaliforniaDavis, a public school, and according to the admissions committee, submitted numerical qualifications which included a 3.44 GPA and a Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) score that placed him in the top three percent of applicants.

Despite his qualifications, Bakke was denied admission again, in part, to his age. But what was of particular consternation to Bakke was the fact that UC-Davis had a special admissions program that allowed Blacks and Hispanic applicants with allegedly lower numerical qualifications to compete for 16 seats that were set aside strictly for racial minority admission.

Bakke sued in state and later in federal court and argued that UC-Davis’ program violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The lower court held that UCDavis’ program ostensibly was a quota system that inured benefits to racial minorities, further holding that but for the set asides, that Bakke likely would have been admitted.

On appeal, in 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the UC-Davis program was unconstitutional on the grounds that it excluded applicants on account of race. Still, while the Bakke decision eliminated exclusions based solely upon race, it left the option open for public institutions to use race as “a” factor in admissions—a status that remained in effect in California until Ward Connerly, a “Black” businessman, led the movement to pass Proposition 209 in 1996; Prop 209 eliminated the use of “race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin” in California university admissions.

While Bakke later earned a medical degree from UC-Davis in 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court has occasionally considered overturning race as even a factor for consideration ever since, most recently in the 2016 Fisher vs. University of Texas case which upheld Affirmative Action for a time.

But alas, Affirmative Action’s time may soon be up when considering the Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority; Justice Clarence Thomas, an outspoken opponent of Affirmative Action for decades, dimssively derided arguments in favor of student body diversity during oral arguments last fall by stating, “I don’t have a clue what (diversity) means.” Thomas’s insouciance comes as no surprise when considering that he has candidly admitted that his own admission to Yale Law— and appointment to the Supreme Court at the age of 43 despite having very limited judicial experience—were both due to his race more than his objective qualifications, but that his own advancement doesn’t mean that race based advancing is right!

With Thomas and fellow Justice Samuel Alito being the senior conservative votes on the court, and cognizant that junior conservative Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney-Barrett have all voted in lock-step with the pair on issues ranging from crime and punishment to abortion, it is likely that the requisite five votes to eliminate Affirmative Action are in place; just as I predicted that federal abortion rights would be eliminated this time last year, I am convinced that Affirmative Action will be eliminated when the pronouncements are given this June. On the one hand, what angers me is that with regards to prestigious public PWI’s like the University of North Carolina and the University of Florida, is knowing that those schools are funded by tax revenue derived from ALL citizens and tourists in those states—not just white ones. Indeed, there’s something perverse by the idea that Black folks can help fund a school, but their kids and grandkids may not get accepted—unless they are a football or basketball player that helps bring in even more revenue to “State U.” On the other hand, doors closing at so-called prestigious predominantly white schools will lead to talented Black students applying to HBCU’s, schools that still produce the overwhelming majority of Black doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, and engineers even during the Affirmative Action era. Lest we forget… Hobbservation Point is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. epiphanies on his surroundings and those of the communities he was working in, which in many ways led to creation of Nexus Community Partners, where he is a CEO and has been for more than 15 years.

This decision to build an organization that centered

San Fran

From 3

From 3 that segregation, structural oppression, and racial prejudice developed from the institution of slavery had a tremendous impact on the development of itself on community and economic development led him to a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government with a focus on community development. the city, even though California was never formally a slave state.

In his search for the link between community building and community development, he also found himself in Kenya, Africa. Using his insights from Harvard, he went to help a community partner organization grow.

Throughout the 20th century, the Chronicle reported, “San Francisco was a Ku Klux Klan stronghold, prohibited Black people from residing in particular districts, kept them out of city employment, and bulldozed the Fillmore,” a historically Black neighborhood

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His experiences in Africa taught him the value of culture, particularly in community building. The values in cultural communities contribute to how well these communities thrive.

“Culture is a knowledge system. Culture is a set of values. It is a way of knowing, a way of being, and scribing, governing, and guiding how we live our lives. And being in Africa and having that experience at a and commercial center.

AARAC chair Eric McDonnell told the newspaper, “Centuries of devastation and destruction of Black lives, Black bodies, and Black communities should be met with centuries of restoration.”

A tale of two cities emerges when one examines San Francisco, as one observer put it. This committee’s actions are consistent with those of other jurisdictions, where similar bodies have advocated for reparations for African Americans.

Residents must have self-identified as Black or African American on public documents for a minimum of ten years and be at least 18 years old when the committee’s plan is approved to receive the compensation.

Additionally, individuals may be required to show that they were born in San Francisco between 1940 and 1996, have been residents of the city for at least 13 years, and are either a former inmate themselves or a direct descendant of a

Acer

From 3

There are different avenues for bringing community members together for civic engagement, such as voting and education.

Notably, ACER performs voter registration and plans on doing it yearly. The next one will fall in the early summer of 2023. Apart from voter registration, ACER carries out community events; from health fairs, farmer’s markets, and holiday community parties to informational events. The purpose of engaging in community events is for the community members to know more about ACER and the services they offer. The good thing is the organization has plans of having more events for community members and giving out increased resources.

Furthermore, ACER deep visceral level reassured me that there was something still here for me to do”, he said.

Today, Mekha serves as the CEO of Nexus Community Partners, which has for over 15 years developed a culture of restoring hope and dignity in some of the Twin Cities’ most vulnerable communities through grant-making, philanthropy, and community and economic development. Nexus accomplishments includes former inmate who served time during the war on drugs.

The Chronicle said that “to put that in context,” the state reparations task panel believes Black Californians may be awarded $569 billion for housing discrimination alone between 1933 and 1977.

Evanston, Illinois, voted to pay $400,000 to select African Americans as part of the city’s vow to spend $10 million over a decade on reparations payments shortly after the San Francisco committee was founded. The government of St. Paul, Minnesota, has apologized for its role in institutional and structural racism and formed a committee to investigate reparations.

A report detailing the committee’s proposed financial compensation for African Americans was subsequently made public.

A reparations task committee was established by the state of California last year, and its report from that keeps the communities updated; they get notifications on when the next event will fall.

Therefore, if you are a Brooklyn Park resident curious about their updates, why not take advantage of their flyers, and message them directly, on their website, or their social media platforms?

Economic Development

The community of color needs to experience sustainable economic development. Thankfully, ACER makes this dream a possibility by supporting small and micro-businesses and connecting them to the needed resources. Moreover, ACER offers free technical help, business consultation, and training for aspiring and present owners of startups or new businesses. Importantly, this organization does not hold back grants and scholarships meant to “relocate resources to businesses.” Additionally, they are not partial a collaborative partnership following the killing of a Black man by a white police officer that made global news.

“After the murder of George Floyd and the uprising, as we know, large amounts of resources came into the Twin Cities area, and we were presented with an opportunity to partner with Black Visions Collective to transfer a significant amount of monies, millions, over to Nexus. And then, a core staff team developed year detailed the incalculable harm that slavery had caused to African Americans.

After George Floyd was murdered, the District of Columbia City Council announced it would create a task team to investigate compensation.

Legislators in both Maryland and Virginia have expressed an interest in researching reparations.

Meanwhile, there has been no movement on a federal level on a bill by Texas Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to establish a committee to investigate reparations.

The San Francisco committee recommended that low-income African Americans get an annual payment equivalent to the region median for at least 250 years, on top of the $5 million payout.

As an added measure, the city would establish a public bank framework and provide citizens with extensive financial education to ensure that those without bank accounts have when choosing the business to support and the needs to meet.

Health Equity

ACER has an interest in the health of immigrants. It achieves this “by addressing the Social Determinants of Health that result in unfairly detrimental health outcomes for BIPOC communities.”

The organization has partners and engages with members of the community to address such issues. The following are some of the ACER’s initiatives to bring Health Equity to African communities;

Health on the Go (HOTG)

This is a current health initiative that focuses on improving access to health services. It thus brings mobile clinics, testing kits, dental kits, health education, and screening services closer to the community. Therefore, HOTG creates a holistic environment a community grant-making committee that, in six months, got about $7.1 million out into the community in a short turnaround time”, Mekha said.

To learn more about Nexus Community Partners and the work they do, and any upcoming projects, be sure to visit their website at https:// www.nexuscp.org access to equal opportunities, including increased access to credit, loans, financing, and other means of managing their money. The committee also seeks to pay for a broad debt cancellation plan that wipes out all types of debt including student loans, personal loans, credit card debt, and payday loans. that allows “vulnerable individuals and households to find resources and improve their health outcomes.”

“Given the history of financial institutions preying on underbanked communities — and especially given the vulnerability of subsets of this population such as seniors and youth — this body recommends putting legal parameters and structures in place to ensure access to funds and to mitigate speculative harm done by others,” the committee concluded. The post San Francisco Committee Recommends Massive Reparations Payout for Black Residents first appeared on Post News Group. This article originally appeared in Post News Group.

COVID Programming

ACER played a role in “building COVID-19 efforts.” Moreover, its current focus is on how the BIPODIC communities can recover from the pandemic. They achieve this through education and conducting health fairs in the communities. Notably, ACER administers a “trusted COVID-19 messenger program for the homeless community.” It works side by side with the CDC Foundation which funds it to enhance education on the COVID-19 vaccine.

COVID-19 Test Kits

The communities can receive free rapid test kits from ACER.

The impact of social distancing, loss of employment, loss of gathering at places of worship, and dealing with illness and death are taking their toll on society.

Panchal and associates (September 22, 2022) are researchers that have studied the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people of color (POC). The impact of social distancing, loss of employment, loss of gathering at places of worship, and dealing with illness and death are taking their toll on society. Unfortunately, suicide deaths have increased faster among POC. The recent rise in deaths associated with drug overdoses, rates of mental illness, and substance use may be underdiagnosed among people of color. People of color have experienced worsening mental health during the pandemic. People of color face disproportionate barriers to accessing mental health care.

Vasquez (2022) adds that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted POC in multiple ways that contribute to poor mental health. During the pandemic, people of color have experienced higher rates of COVID-19 infection and death and more significant financial challenges, which may negatively impact their mental health. There are several contributing factors to the increasing rate of suicides within Black American culture. The COVID-19 pandemic did not make the circumstances any better.

Blum (April 20, 2021) reports that early in the pandemic, there were worries among mental health professionals about COVID19’s impacts on people’s isolation, stress, and finances.

It was believed that Americans’ unprecedented purchases of guns would surge suicides, says psychiatrist Dr. Nestadt. According to psychiatrist Dr. Nestadt, spikes in suicide rates were documented during the 1889 and 1918 flu pandemics and in the elderly in Hong Kong after the 2003 SARS outbreak. Nestadt conducted a study analyzing suicides among Maryland residents during the first six months of the year by race. They found that suicides among white residents decreased by 45% from early March to early May, while suicides among Black residents increased by 94% in the same time frame. Years from now, when we look at how the pandemic affected public health, not only did the virus wreak havoc throughout the world, the mental effects on suicide, particularly on people that already challenged by other environmental and social stresses. The research appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry. So, starting the new year of 2023, how do we change the narrative about suicide in Black American culture? Open discussions about mental health and the effects of mental health on suicide attempts and suicides. Seeking professional help for mental illness is becoming more readily available. But, the statistics are alarming, and we will have to be our brother and sister’s keepers to recommend service.

Matters!

The Narrative

References: Blum, K. (April 20, 2021).Suicides Rise in Black Population During COVID-19 Pandemic. Suicides Rise in Black Population During COVID-19 Pandemic (hopkinsmedicine.org)

Fickman, L. (February

Houston (uh.edu) Norton, A. (October 15, 2019). Suicide Attempts Rising Among Black Teens. Suicide Attempts Rising Among Black Teens – Consumer Health News | HealthDay Parker, D. (July 18, 2018). Changing the Conversation About Suicide in the Black Community. Changing the Conversation About Suicide in the Black Community | NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness Panchal, N., Saunders,H. and Ndugga, N. (September 22, 2022). Five Key Findings on Mental Health and Substance (wordinblack.com) Vasquez Reyes M. The Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans. Health Hum Rights. (December 2022)22(2):299307. PMID: 33390715; PMCID:

PMC7762908. Share: Dr. Lawrence Jones Tech and Medical Blogger for The Narrative Matters

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