Let’s be clear about what this is. Being blind to history is always a mistake.
Focusing (for simplicity) on Black citizens in the U.S., the vast majority of Black Americans are the descendants of slaves who were immigrated against their will to this country in the 1700s and 1800s. Not all Black Americans have this background, but the majority. Those whose ancestors were not slaves still faced the ugly reality of being Black in America. For a hundred years after passage of the 13th amendment in 1865, Black citizens were systematically discriminated against through laws and actions that prevented them from owning land, educating their children, voting, and otherwise obtaining the full benefits of citizenship. Naturally, as a group, Black Americans were poor, under-educated, and under-represented in positions of civil, political, and economic power.
After World War II, the GI Bill granted benefits including housing loans to returning servicemen that allowed them to purchase homes during the subsequent housing boom. The ownership of real estate and the opportunity for good jobs in the post-war economy helped to blossom the “middle class” in America and allowed those families to educate their children, accumulate wealth, and pass the land and wealth down to their children and to future generations. Black Americans – including those who fought in the war – were excluded from the benefits of this program and largely missed out on the economic advantages that came with it.
In 1964, the passage of the Civil Rights Act was intended to help remedy the government-sponsored oppression of Blacks, and it did remove some of the most onerous legal restrictions on Black Americans’ prospects for improving their economic positions. But systemic discrimination, poor schools available to Black children, and other factors perpetuated the severe underrepresentation of Blacks in positions of authority, power, and economic influence.
In 1965, Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order (11246), establishing a federal agency (the OFCCP) dedicated to ensuring that companies who received federal government funds not only complied with the new law that prohibited active discrimination against Blacks, women and other minorities, but took “affirmative actions” to give a fair opportunity to under-represented groups, including Black Americans, to obtain employment. The program required companies to recruit at historically Black colleges, remove artificial barriers to employment such as requiring high school diplomas for manual labor jobs, and prohibited the exclusive use of an “old boys’” network of nepotism and favoritism that had long excluded Blacks and minorities from good jobs. The program was successful in increasing the percentage of Black employees employed by government contractors, but the percentages still lagged far below the overall percentage of Blacks in the workforce, and the jobs given to Black workers tended to be lower paid and lacking opportunities to advance into positions of leadership and authority.
In the 1980s and 90s, and continuing into the new century, individuals and groups who came to be labeled as “Liberal” or “Progressive” undertook a concerted effort to address the historic oppression of Black Americans by initiating programs that further advanced the “affirmative actions” intended to allow Black Americans to gain an equal footing. Major universities began actively recruiting and admitting Black students, even when their test scores and academic and extracurricular achievements as high school students were less impressive than White students who were rejected. Such programs recognized that the inherent obstacles placed in the path of Black children and Black families warranted making allowances to give opportunities to Black students with high potential who had been held back by their economic and social circumstances – where were the direct result of historic and systematic discrimination. These efforts created multi-cultural campuses that enhanced the educational experiences for all students.
Despite some gains, Black Americans continued to be under-represented in positions of power, under-represented in government (both elected and appointed) positions, and had lower earnings and far less familial wealth than Whites. Bu there were more and more Black Americans who overcame their historic obstacles and rose to positions of power. Black athletes earned large salaries and became celebrities. Black entertainers experienced similar advancement. Black-owned businesses came into existence and competed on relatively equal footing (but still struggled to obtain loans and other financing as compared to White-owned businesses). Barak Obama was elected President in 2008 and re-elected in 2012. Although Blacks legislators in Congress and in state capitals were still far fewer than the relative percentage of the Black population, the Obama Presidency was seen as a sign of progress. Unfortunately, it also was viewed by the leaders of many White supremacist groups and far-right politicians as an opportunity to claim that it was time to stop helping Black Americans catch up. In their minds, “equality” had been achieved.
In the aftermath of unfortunate reminders that racism was still very much alive and well in the United States in the twenty-teens, many large corporations undertook efforts to further remedy the historical discrimination against Blacks and other minority groups through programs that came to be called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” These programs were less about hiring than about fostering an environment of tolerance, togetherness, and understanding. For several years, DE&I programs were viewed favorably by most Americans as a further sign of progress toward a truly non-discriminatory society.
There are many more political and cultural issues in play, of course. The Gerrymandering of voting districts — intended to preserve the maximum percentage of White elected officials – and the rising influence of big-money spending in elections, has resulted in non-White citizens being proportionally represented in federal and state legislatures. Non-White Americans continue to have lower earnings, less accumulated wealth, and generally lesser prospects for advancement than Whites. This is, without any question, the lingering effects of the historic, government-sponsored discrimination and oppression that dates back to the times of slavery and all the obstacles placed in the path of minority citizens over the past 200 years.
Now, in 2025, the current President has declared war on DE&I programs and has repealed EO11246. Federal programs designed to help advance Black Americans (and other minorities) have been abolished. The Justice Department has been ordered to target private corporations that carry on any type of affirmative action to advance minorities, upon threat of prosecution and being debarred from federal funds and contracts. (Ironically, these threats are based on the idea that such programs result in “discrimination” against White citizens and as such are illegal under the Civil Rights Act.) The government is seeking to roll back the historical clock to a time when overt preferences for Whites is acceptable, and even mandated. The government wants private schools and employers to give preference to a White applicant (or a candidate for promotion or appointment to a higher role) if the White applicant looks “better” on paper. But, of course, many White applicants/candidates look better because they come from a family with greater wealth, had the advantages of a superior education, superior medical care, superior nutrition, superior training and opportunities for life experiences, and have had all the advantages of being White their entire lives.
The disingenuous argument that it is only “fair” to be entirely color-blind and to pick the “best” candidate for every job, and appoint only the “best” people to government positions ignores the historical reality. To reward the runners who finish first in the race seems like rewarding “merit,” until you step back and realize that those runners had a half-lap head start.
Those of us who are in current positions of influence and power have a choice to make. Do we allow this, or do we fight against it. There will be consequences either way.
It’s time to choose.
