The End of Affirmative Action: Civil rights advocates brace for the worst.
Unf*cking The Republic
UNFTR Media
4.9 • 683 Ratings
🗓️ 8 April 2023
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Affirmative action has a long history in the United States, beginning with the labor movement in the 1930s. But over time, the country and the courts developed a far more narrow definition with respect to the college and university admissions process. Today, the vestiges of affirmative action are once again under attack and likely to fall apart completely under the conservative Trump court. In this episode, we review the history of affirmative action, how it came to be settled law and why it’s likely to be stripped away.
Chapters
Intro: 00:01:15
Chapter One: Affirmative action has always been hanging by a thread. 00:03:04
Chapter Two: Everyone’s a winner, everyone’s a loser. 00:09:05
Chapter Three: As usual, there’s a villain behind all this. 00:17:16
Chapter Four: The unlevel playing field. 00:23:41
Chapter Five: Bring it home, Max. 00:29:12
Post Show Musings: 00:47:13
Outro: 00:49:10
Resources
Smithsonian Magazine: The Origins of the Term ‘Affirmative Action’
National Archives: Executive Order 11478 - Equal employment opportunity in the Federal Government
National Archives: Executive Order 8802 - Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941)
The New York Times Magazine: Why Is Affirmative Action in Peril? One Man’s Decision.
ACLU: What You Need to Know about Affirmative Action at the Supreme Court
ACLU: Meet Edward Blum, the Man Who Wants to Kill Affirmative Action in Higher Education
The New York Times: He Took On the Voting Rights Act and Won. Now He’s Taking On Harvard
Mother Jones: Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement
The Federal Reserve: Wealth Inequality and the Racial Wealth Gap
Economic Policy Institute: Understanding black-white disparities in labor market outcomes requires models that account for persistent discrimination and unequal bargaining power
Brookings: Unequal Opportunity: Race and Education
The Atlantic: Justice Jackson’s Crucial Argument About Affirmative Action
UNFTR Resources
Episode: America, Inc.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | UNFDR. |
| 0:04.0 | There are those who contend that it does not benefit African Americans to get them into the University of Texas where they do not do well, |
| 0:15.0 | as opposed to having them go to a less advanced school, a slower track school, where they do well. |
| 0:26.0 | One of the briefs pointed out that most of the black scientists in this country don't come |
| 0:35.0 | from schools like the University of Texas. |
| 0:42.3 | They come from lesser schools where they do not feel that they're, that they're being pushed ahead in classes that are too fast for them. |
| 0:46.3 | This court, you know, I'm just not impressed by the fact that the University of Texas |
| 0:51.3 | may have fewer. Maybe it ought to have fewer and maybe some, you know, when you take more, the University of Texas may have fewer. Maybe it ought to have fewer. |
| 0:57.5 | And maybe some, you know, when you take more, |
| 1:01.8 | the number of blacks, really competent blacks admitted to lesser schools, |
| 1:03.8 | turns out to be less. |
| 1:10.4 | And I don't think it stands to reason that it's a good thing for the University of Texas to admit as many blacks as possible. |
| 1:14.9 | This is the story of a political pundit who looked at the world around him and just said, fuck it. |
| 1:22.3 | Gives the middle finger to authority and says, kiss my ass. |
| 1:26.2 | But instead of a revolution |
| 1:27.8 | He started a podcast |
| 1:29.4 | Just what the world needs |
| 1:31.9 | He started a podcast |
| 1:33.5 | Another basic white guy |
| 1:35.4 | Who started a podcast |
| 1:37.3 | But it's fun because he curses |
| 1:39.7 | All through the podcast |
... |
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