Affirmative action—specifically the factoring in of racial characteristics when considering admission to higher education—has been a deeply contentious topic for years now. But the plight of Asian-Americans may be exposing the absurdity of this policy to a much wider audience than before.
“What has been known for some time but is now getting the attention it deserves is that affirmative action programs disproportionately harm Asians. In fact, they harm them far more than they harm whites,” writes David Marcus at The Federalist.
Noting that the justification for racially discriminatory affirmative action policies was that “white students benefited from centuries of racial injustice in myriad ways,” Marcus points out that “affirmative action was meant to redress historical imbalances and level the playing field for minority students.”
“But now that we see race-based admissions are disadvantaging Asians more than they are whites, this basis simply falls apart,” he states.
“It is farcical to imagine that somehow centuries of systemic white supremacy are benefiting Asian students, many of who are first-generation Americans or even immigrants themselves,” Marcus writes, continuing:
Moreover, there is no plausible way to suggest that these recent arrivals had any hand in creating the systems that disadvantage other minority groups.
None of this, however, stopped the Congressional Black Caucus from essentially calling the president a racist for his new policy. Its leader, Cedric Richmond, had this to say: “While I am not surprised, I continue to be disappointed that the president of this great country cares so little for its non-white residents and their interests.”
Unless we have suddenly decided that Asians are in fact white, this statement is absurd on its face. By far, the greatest beneficiaries of ending affirmative action would be non-white Asian students.
The Congressional Black Caucus, the Democratic National Committee, and many in the liberal media simply ignore the harm done to Asian students under this program. For a while, that worked. But now, Asian-American activists, Republicans, and the conservative media are shining a bright light on the issue that cannot be ignored. As a result, new justifications for race-based admissions that do not rely on unfair advantages bestowed upon whites must be created. So far, the results are not promising.
“Democrats and progressives may continue trying to ignore the harm being done to Asian students, and pretend that it isn’t happening,” Marcus argues. “…But their ability to hide this consequence from Asians themselves and the public at large is fast crumbling under the weight of reality.”
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