CIVIL RIGHTS

How They're Using Civil Rights Legislation to Halt Racial Progress

Laws designed to safeguard racial minorities misused

Portrait of a blonde woman in office attire | Photo by Augusto Carneiro Junior via Pexels

In America, civil rights legislation has become a double-edged sword. Meaning laws that shield racial minorities from harm are also used against them. Take, for instance, the attack on race-based affirmative action policies. Lawyers argued that considering applicants' race violated the "equal protection clause." They overlooked the purpose of these programs, which was leveling the playing field. Once stripped of context, they portrayed hierarchy-attenuating programs as reverse discrimination. This argument was convincing to the conservative-leaning Supreme Court. In the aftermath, the rate of Black student enrollment dropped. Some may ask why this argument matters. After all, race-based affirmative action policies are now banned. Yet, this is bigger than any one policy or program. Their approach revealed a strategy with a broad application of using civil rights legislation to halt racial progress.

The allegation of "reverse discrimination" isn't new. An 1867 Union Springs article, Negro vs. White Labor, dispels any notion that it was. Despite most Black people suffering in poverty, the author portrayed them as privileged. Give White men "an equal chance with the Negro," they…