Affirmative Action and "Equal" Opportunity

Bonilla-Silva’s Central Frames of Colorblind Racism may as well been titled – Affirmative Action: I’ll tell you why your opinions are wrong. 

To start, I think it’s important to disclose that I’ve never had a strong opinion on affirmative action (AA). I believe that college acceptance and hiring decisions should be based upon skill and experience, not race/ethnicity/age/gender. So does that make me a supporter of affirmative action? Not necessarily. But I figured that classified me as AA neutral. I don’t think Bonilla-Silva would agree, but maybe that’s just because I’m white.

Starting on page 31, Bonilla-Silva attacks the opinions of multiple people. Take for example the white, female college student who doesn’t believe minorities should receive “unique opportunities” when applying to college. Bonilla-Silva slammed the student’s opinion stating that she “ignored the effects of past and contemporary discrimination.”

What I found frustrating about the above argument is the emphasis it places on the past. Yes – black people did not have the same opportunities as whites one hundred and fifty years ago, nor did they fifty years ago. But that’s not the case anymore, and it is not a valid argument. Blacks have access to public education, just as whites. They have access to public aid, just like whites do. Just about any person of European, African, Asian or South American descent could also use that argument. My great-grandparents came to the US from Ireland and weren’t able to send all their children to school, but they made it work and each child ended up with a high school diploma. How? Not because they’re white (although Bonilla would still argue that was the case), but through hard work. 

I also found it interesting that on page 29, Bonilla-Silva states that he believes whites believe minorities are hypersensitive and use race as an excuse. However, that’s exactly what he is doing throughout this entire chapter – supporting AA because blacks were and are still discriminated against thus limiting their opportunities.

Questions:

In 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan Law School’s affirmative action plan explaining, “[the] student body diversity is a compelling state interest that can justify the use of race in university admissions.” Sandra Day O’Connor, writing on behalf of the majority, stated, “We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today.” What would Bonilla-Silva say in response to Day-O’Connor?

Moving forward nearly a decade, a New York judge issued a ruling stating that two in every five new FDNY hires should be black and one in every five Hispanic “because fewer minorities passed the exam than whites.” According to the 2010 census, 25.1 percent of the city is black whereas 27.5 percent are Hispanic. So why wouldn’t the judge rule that more Hispanics should be hired than blacks? Would Bonilla-Silva support this ruling?