Dallas Morning News: James Ragland and Steve Blow debate ruling on affirmative action

[TexasTowelie]

Columnists James Ragland and Steve Blow have long had casual newsroom conversations about racial issues. Sometimes they bring those chats into the pages of the newspaper. Last week’s Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action prompts another of their “Talking Race” dialogues.

Steve: Surely we can agree that affirmative action was never meant to last forever. And the Supreme Court’s ruling seems a logical and necessary step in bringing it to an end at some point.

The justices merely upheld Michigan’s right to end racial preferences in college admissions. If a state can begin such programs, then it ought to have the power to end them when it deems appropriate.

People will disagree on when the time is right. But the ideal we’re working toward is a day when race won’t work for you or against you in a job hiring or a college admission. Right?

James: Yes, Steve, in the hopeful words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we all should desire to live in a nation where folks “will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Are we there yet?

Not by a long shot. Thus, the Supreme Court’s decision is a mixed bag. It allows some states to continue weighing race and ethnicity in admissions and upholds bans in other states. Yet it clearly fuels efforts to dismantle racial preferences.

More at http://www.dallasnews.com/news/columnists/steve-blow/20140426-james-ragland-and-steve-blow-debate-ruling-on-affirmative-action.ece .