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Affirmative Action ruling: America's greatness is its humanity . . .
It was America's heart that spoke, on Monday with the Affirmative Action ruling, not its military might, nor its bravado as a world leader. It was its care and concern for its own. Humanity prevailed, painting. America's flag a richer color of red, white and blue; upholding the proud wave of the flag we all strive to love and revere.
While most Americans…certainly most minorities, waited on pins and needles for the Supreme Court's ruling; this decision, after all, was not a test of our worth -- but, a test of America's humanity. The nine justices' decisions might have come easier had they tuned into their television sets, or read the front pages of their newspapers and magazines…not so subtle messages that, in this great America, we, yet, are far from that ideal of "equality for all…"
A recent notice from the Civil Rights Education Fund's Campaign to Promote Affirmative Action, both worried and encouraged me. While I was encouraged there are organizations in place at times when we need them most; it was a stark realization of how quickly we can be sent back to square one -- for something so basic as affirmative action -- America's most sensible conduit to equal opportunities. But, there was also a feeling that we were…again, fighting for what, according to the U.S. Constitution should be a given. For what smart, compassionate Americans know is deserved. Whether the Education Fund campaign had a small or large effect on Monday's decision, we'll never know for sure. What we do know is that the U.S. Supreme Court would have struck a damning blow against America and its color-blind principles, had the affirmative action ruling gone any other way.
Most historians agree that the constitution did not have blacks- or any other minority- in mind when that brilliant piece of work was composed. Thank God, and those brave political and social crusaders, that much has changed. While Affirmative Action may truthfully be a kind of patch-work justice, covering the holes and abysses left by years of Jim Crowism and segregation; it is no less just as profoundly necessary in 2003…as it was in 1964.
Perfect? Hardly. Like the rest of the civil rights laws and amendments, this is a man-made cure-all. An offering, that, sadly, can be taken away, watered down, ignored or turned back…but, it must do for now. The Supreme Court's optimism is that America will be at a place, 25 years from now, which allows us to strike this law from the books. They are being kind, coy or very naive. Humanity is, indeed, a hard habit to break.
But, for today, and for the next 25 years, America has struck a chord of compassion and humanity. It is on us…those most affected by Monday's ruling, to make these 25 years count. To forge lives that affirmative action laws cannot uproot. And, most of all, to remind our brothers and sisters for the next 25 years, that, until all are free, none are free… Affirmative Action or not. June 2003 Janis F. Kearney is a Chicago writer, former journalist and diarist to President Bill Clinton. A Harvard W.E.B. Du Bois Fellow, she is currently completing William Jefferson Clinton from Hope to Harlem; and a personal memoir, Cotton Field of Dreams.
Kearney Communications 5138 S. Kenwood Ave.#2 Chicago, IL 60615 (773) 493-2007 --ph (773) 493-5747 -- fax janisfk@aol.com |
Bring out the flags. Fly them high, and without apology. For the first time in many months, I am an unabashed
patriot, celebrating America's greatest strength…it's humanity.