Supreme Court got it right – let's judge by "the content of the character"

Supreme Court got it right – let's judge by "the content of the character"

By Michael Busler

The recent ruling by the Supreme Court allowing the state of Michigan to ban the use of Affirmative Action when determining admission into college has raised quite an uproar from both sides of the debate. Some argue that this ruling will lead to further discrimination. But isn't this ruling an example of what Dr. Martin Luther King wanted when he said that all people should be judged by the "content of their character" and not by the color of their skin?

In 1961, President Kennedy signed an executive order which said that government contractors should "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin." The intent was to affirm the federal government's commitment to equal opportunity for all qualified persons.

In 1965, President Johnson signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion and national origin. These two orders and some later modifications were intended to level the playing field for all Americans regardless of skin color or national origin. At the time the legal doctrine of "separate but equal" was being overturned, but racial prejudice was still prevalent, even though the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 which essentially outlawed discrimination.

Because of the long history in the U.S. of poor treatment of people of color, reversing this trend took some time. Our leaders realized that legislating people's attitudes was a difficult task, so that affirmative action was needed to ensure fairness. But in 2014, do we need affirmative action?

The reality today is that any person can reach any employment status, even up to and including becoming President of the United States. As a result, many Americans believe that Affirmative Action is no longer needed and may actually be doing more harm than good.

Take, for instance, recent comments by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She wrote a 58 page dissenting opinion to the 6-2 vote of the majority. She said that race still matters today and without affirmative action many blacks, including herself, would not be where they are today. Abandoning affirmative action, she noted, shows a misunderstanding of the nature of injustice and is out of touch with reality.

It seems somewhat disturbing that Justice Sotomayor believes she may not be on the Supreme Court if affirmative action did not exist. That means she is admitting that there were likely more qualified people then her, but they were not nominated because they were not a minority. So those people were discriminated against because of their skin color. Isn't that in conflict with the intent of the law? Does she mean that without affirmative action, her qualifications for the position would not have been sufficient for her nomination?

Regarding admissions into college, applicants are judged on their score on the SAT, their high school record, and the intangibles that are used to allow the admissions officers the ability to determine which applicants are likely to be successful at the school. In other words, they make their admission judgment based on their perception of the "content of the character" rather than any physical traits.

But if applicants of color are disproportionately poorer than other classes, aren't they at a disadvantage since lower income people simply cannot afford the extras that wealthy individuals have? The answer is yes. But the colleges look for achievement, leadership qualities and the ability to overcome obstacles. This can be displayed by people of all socio-economic classes.

Since we have elected an African-American to hold the highest position in the country, any individual can now become anything he / she wants. Granted some start from a much lower economic class than others, but we have no control over our birth situation. We simply know that we must "play the hand we are dealt". There are many of us, born into low income, who have faced some discrimination because of a physical, religious or cultural trait, yet managed to achieve success. By banning affirmative action we are closer to Dr. King's words: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

We should abandon affirmative action to remove race from the equation entirely, so that we can judge by the content of the character.