Conservatives Thrilled By Prospect Of Fewer Black Kids Going To College

But they're totally not racist, they just think people get into college based on objective merit.

Today the Supreme Court continued its path of destruction, ruling that colleges cannot consider race as a factor in the admissions process — at least not explicitly.

A whole lot of people are pretty happy about that. Why? For the same reason they fear equality in general. Conservatives believe that hierarchy is natural and good, and therefore that anything aimed at "equality" is an attempt to create a different hierarchy with white men at the bottom, where they will be punished for what they did to those who are now at the top. This is what animates literally every single thing that they do. Affirmative action has always been a "thing" for them because they believe that it is being used to lift up "undeserving" people and put them in charge of those they ought to be serving — and it's pretty clear who it is they think is undeserving.

A number of conservatives who think they are real cute have been quoting the literal one Martin Luther King quote they know, to celebrate the ruling.

I don't know who this guy is but he has 86K Twitter followers 

To be clear, Martin Luther King explicitly supported affirmative action, and with "Operation Breadbasket" pushed for the boycott of businesses that did not hire enough Black people. This is something known to everyone who has read more than that one quote.

Mike Pence, who reportedly also quoted MLK at some point today (I haven't been able to find it), explained that while affirmative action may have been needed "50 years ago," his three white children graduating from college prove that it is not.

— (@)  

Donald Trump pretended that, without affirmative action, acceptance to college will be "all merit-based," which is absolute nonsense.

"This is a great day for America. People with extraordinary ability and everything else necessary for success, including future greatness for our Country, are finally being rewarded," Trump said in a statement on Truth Social . "This is the ruling everyone was waiting and hoping for and the result was amazing. It will also keep us competitive with the rest of the world. Our greatest minds must be cherished and that’s what this wonderful day has brought. We’re going back to all merit-based — and that’s the way it should be!"

The fact is, college acceptance, much like the hiring process, is entirely subjective . If you have five slots and 10 equally great students, you are going to have to make some decisions that are not based on test scores. The problem is, on the whole, rich white students tend to have more access to the other things that may give them an edge in admissions. Schools that are predominantly white and affluent tend to have more AP classes, more extracurriculars, and other opportunities than less-white and less-affluent schools.

The big assumption people make with affirmative action is that "unqualified" people are getting through. The reason they have this assumption is because they literally do not believe that there are applicants of color that deserve to get into Harvard; they see it as "white students who are better and more qualified are being turned away in favor of students of color who are less qualified" rather than "these students are equally good and equally qualified and race is one factor in consideration after the fact, much like extracurriculars, recommendations, legacy admissions and other things that not all students have equal access to."

This is why Charlie Kirk's take on the whole thing was that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was "bitter" about the ruling because she herself was an "affirmative action hire," because Joe Biden said he was going to put a Black woman on the Supreme Court.

She said "With let-them-eat-cake obliviousness, today, the majority pulled the ripcord and announces colorblindness for all by legal fiat. But deeming race irrelevant in law does not make it so in life."

Well, this is so rich. She's an affirmative action hire. She's only on the Supreme Court because of affirmative action. Ketanji Brown Jackson was not chosen for her brilliance. Let's pick a brilliant person. No, they picked her because she's a Black woman. So she's super bitter.

"And having so detached itself from this country’s actual past and present experiences, the Court has now been lured into interfering with the crucial work that UNC –"

The crucial work. Ketanji Brown Jackson is saying. What? Do you know how many other young Blacks that won't be able to get promoted like me for jobs they're not qualified for like me?

Why does Charlie Kirk think it would be impossible to find "a brilliant person" who also happens to be a Black woman? Does he think that there are no Black women in the whole of the country who are qualified to sit on the Supreme Court? Because that's pretty much what he just said.

On Fox, guest Leo Terrell, a Black man (hopefully no relation to Tammi), pontificated that getting rid of affirmative action in schools would cleanse the nation of "wokeness." 

"This is a tremendous impact on what will happen in the future. And it will have a chilling effect on those who want to play the race card. Let me be clear about this. I mean, Julie, this is not 1965. We have minorities on the Supreme Court. We have a Black president. We have people of color throughout the entire government. So what will happen now is that now litigants will have the Supreme Court ruling in their hands and say you can't play the race card here. And if you do I'll sue you. You asked Shannon a question. Numerous private lawsuits will stop this wokeness, will stop putting one race against another. This ruling will have a powerful effect on minimizing wokeness throughout this country."

So, specifically he is saying that with fewer Black kids in college — which, let's be entirely frank here, this is very much what they believe and hope will happen — the country will be less "woke."

And the sad fact is, he's probably not entirely wrong, because this will very likely make our whole country a whole lot more ignorant.

During a press conference today, President Biden was asked if this decision throws into question the legitimacy of the "rogue" Court, to which he responded, after a very long beat, "It's not a normal court."

— (@)  

He's not wrong, either.

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