Why Reparations? Robinson's Argument
- A Strategy for Addressing the Black-White Wealth Gap
- Public Recognition of Black Historical Contributions to National Development
- Based on Black Achievement, Not Deficits.
- Affirmative Action Programs Biased Towards Individuals Who are the Least In Need of Assistance
Why does Brent Staples Oppose Reparations?
- Victimology: Reparations promote black sense of being victims of american racial system, emphasize black dependency on others to make a change in social systems. (Robinson, of course, takes the opposite view, seeing reparations as recognition of black achievements in the growth of the nation's economy, not of black victimhood).
- Reparations Are Focused on Past, not Future
The Origins of Affirmative Action
The Ineffectiveness of Anti-Bias Laws & Regulatory Agencies
Racial Discrimination in the Construction Industry & the Origins of the Philadelphia Plan, the Federal Government’s First Affirmative Action Plan
- The Response of Liberal Elites to the Threat of Racial Unrest
- The Mission of Elite Universities: Grooming Leadership for the Nation’s Communities
- Bok & Bowen, The Shape of the River
The Bakke Decision
1978 Supreme Court Decision
4 Justices Said Public Institutions May Use Racial Preferences to Remedy Past Discrimination
4 Justices Said the 14th Amendment Prevents the Government From Using Racial Preferences Under Any Circumstance
Justice Lewis Powell Say that Race May Only Be Used as a "Plus" Factor In Order to Create Institutional Diversity
Debating Affirmative Action: What is the Cause of the Persistence of the Racial Divide?
Is black poverty and underachievement the result of:
Black Genetic Inferiority &/or Cultural Pathology?
OR
White Institutional Privilege and Racial Discrimination?
The Other Philosophical Question Underlying the Affirmative Action Debate: What Does It Mean To Be Qualified?
- Do We Pick the MOST Qualified Individual for the Job?
- Identifying the MOST Qualified: Serial Ranking Systems
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.
Or
- Is the Goal to Create Institutions Best Able to Achieve their Mission in a Diverse Society?
- Seeing Qualifications as A Floor, Not a Ceiling: Setting Baseline Criteria
- Picking According to Need from a Pool of Qualified Applications