The following was presented as part of a discussion of the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on affirmative action, LGBTQ+ rights, and student loans. The Court outlawed affirmative action against racism, endorsed discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, and backed bank usury on student loans.
This was on the WBAI program “Voices of Resistance,” hosted by Lucy Pagoada-Quesada and Andreia Vizeu.
Listen: https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=41506
When I heard about the Supreme Court decision on Affirmative Action, I was saddened but not surprised.
The decision comes amid a gradual rolling back of several laws that protect society’s most vulnerable people, including abortion rights, gun safety laws, voting rights, housing, livable wages, and health — mental and physical — as well as climate change — so many issues. But once again, the Supreme Court chose the path that will make it more difficult and miserable for the working class currently facing a huge financial crisis.
This ruling overturns a longstanding precedent that had previously benefited Black, Indigenous, Latino, and Asian students in higher education due to an apparent historic lack of opportunities for those students. The Court’s decision that considering race as a specific factor in admissions violates the Equal Protection Clause.
Why is race the only factor being scapegoated? There are many forms of admission preferences for affirmative action, such as athlete scholarships, legacy, and donor admissions.
A study published in the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 43% of white students admitted to Harvard University were recruited ALDC’s, shorthand for athletic recruits, legacies (relatives of Harvard Alumni), children of faculty and staff — applicants whose parents or relatives have donated to Harvard.
The study found that 75% of the white students admitted from those categories would have been rejected if they had been treated as white non-ALDCs.
In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — declaring that the constitutional right to abortion, upheld for nearly 49 years, no longer exists.
In August 2022, Biden announced a student loan forgiveness plan. However, this plan was officially ruled out by the Supreme Court in June 2023.
President Biden criticized the decision and responded, “This is not a normal court,” and confirmed that discrimination still exists in America. Biden urged colleges and universities to continue to try to achieve diversity on their campuses by considering the hardships that their applicants have faced in their lives.
Even though the Supreme Court’s decision is final, they have no power to enforce it. Biden has the power. The people must take it to the streets and fight these oppressive attacks against the working class.
These issues — affirmative action, women’s right to choose, voting rights, reparations, police brutality, mass incarceration, and the whole criminal justice system — are all domestic issues that affect families. The family is the base of society. When families are in crisis, the whole of society is in crisis.
Here is where we look to socialist Cuba, which just recently replaced the Family Code that went into effect in 1975 on March 8, International Women’s Day, creating one of the most basic conditions for the further development of the revolution. The Family Code was approved by more than 98% of the participants in the meetings and assemblies.
What we need to look at is the process used to pass Cuba’s new Family Code in September 2022. All citizens over 16 years of age were eligible to vote in the Families Code referendum. Cubans at home and abroad were involved in the decision-making process. Some 6.5 million people participated, a show of true participatory democracy.
Cuba’s Family Code promotes the right to a family life free from violence and unprovoked stress. A life that values love, affection, solidarity, and responsibility.
The Supreme Court has shown no compassion toward working-class families. They are not addressing real issues such as livable wages, guaranteed income, homeless individuals, affordable housing, voting rights and ease of voting, free health care, and free education for all, protecting the environment — issues that contribute to building happy, healthy families. The Supreme Court really serves no purpose that is worth preserving. It is time for the people to abolish it. Issues affecting the lives of the working class should be decided by the people through participatory democracy.
Issues like removing Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, ending the U.S. blockade, getting the U.S. out of Guantanamo, and normalizing relations with Cuba must be decided by the people.
We must fight for a stronger affirmative action that is truly for leveling the playing field for Africans and all oppressed people. We all know that regardless of what corporate media says, affirmative action — one way to equalize the playing field for formerly enslaved people — has benefited many oppressed groups, including white women.
For true equality, we need to study socialism. We need a socialist revolution.
