WEBVTT - 070823 Does The Supreme Court Really Understand Affirmative Action? (Part 2) 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:01.760 And now prop. 0:00:04.320 --> 0:00:05.200 My back. 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:13.840 Strike headquarters behind and there just. 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.160 Tuning in six second. I'm your host, Ramsey's job. 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:18.040 He is jah, I am. 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:30.520 Once again it's hardened me, frustrated, angry, and still it's 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:32.479 a little early in the show for that. You might 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:34.000 want to save that to the end because we've got 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:38.640 some heavy stuff to drop on you. But we're gonna 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.720 make it. Man, That's what we talk about. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:42.280 It, we get through it. We're doing our part, and 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:43.320 so stay tuned. 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:46.080 It is becoming more and more difficult to actually feel 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:46.480 that way. 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:49.680 Well, I'm I'm still optimistic and always will be. Stay tuned. 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:54.480 We're going to be talking about the Supreme Court, good 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:59.360 and bad and mostly bad, but as he be Okay, yes, 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:01.280 mind is this that we have to talk about that? 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.280 Yeah? Yeah? And then far away Black History fact, we're 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.320 going to be talking about Henrietta Lacks, a name you 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:08.520 may not know, but a name you should know, a 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.000 very important black woman that deserve to be celebrated. The 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.640 first and foremost we're going to talk about again the 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:19.760 Supreme Court for our Baba Becoming a Better Ally segment, 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:22.759 which is sponsored by Unknown Union the Fashion How situated 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.680 at the intersection of meaning, innovation and culture. More info 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.119 check Unknown Union dot com. All right, today's reading comes 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:33.280 from NPR. Something the Supreme Court did that was good. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.480 The US Supreme Court stepped back from the brink of 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:42.360 totally gutting the landmark nineteen sixty five Voting Rights Act. 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.720 That's very important. Okay, this is why I'm still optimistic. 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.000 By a five to four vote, a coalition of conservative 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.400 and liberal Justice justices reaffirmed the Court's nineteen eighty six 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:56.920 president interpreting how legislative districts must be drawn under the 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.800 landmark Voting Rights Act as amended in nineteen eighty two, 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:02.720 the Court said that in Alabama, a state where there 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.559 are seven congressional seats and one in four voters is black, 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.600 Republican dominated state legislature had denied African American voters a 0:02:10.680 --> 0:02:14.160 reasonable chance to elect a second representative of their choice. 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:18.079 The decision could reverberate across other states with reconsideration of 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.839 how congressional lines are drawn in areas with significant black populations. 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.760 Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored or joined prior decisions 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.679 that gutted key parts of the voting rights law, on Thursday, 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:33.640 wrote for the Court majority to preserve the way voting 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:35.840 rights law has been applied for nearly forty years in 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.800 redistricting cases. Who was joined by federal conservative Brett Kavanaugh. Crazy, 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.320 you know that would never have expected that, but sure, 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:47.239 I'll take it, man, and I got a credit where 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:52.640 it's due. They joined the Court's three liberal justices Sonya Sodemayer, 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:58.600 Alana Kagan, and Katanji Brown Jackson. Basically, the long and 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:02.520 the short of it is jerry mandering. This this deals 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:04.680 a blow to jerry mandering, which is often a tool 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:09.280 used to repress and suppress the influence of black people 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.360 and marginalize people's votes in this country. So shout out 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:15.160 to the Supreme Court for getting that thing right that 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:20.799 that the implications there are a lot bigger than a 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:25.440 lot of people know voting. I think voting is still 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:29.160 very important, So the implications are a lot further reaching 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:30.040 than many people though. 0:03:30.200 --> 0:03:34.800 You think people's in people's minds, they marginalized that what 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.720 could have happened here? And maybe people just weren't paying attention. 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:39.880 Okay, so help me up. 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:43.200 I'm just and I'm not pushing back, but I think, 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:45.680 or I guess sometimes I'm just speaking for us and 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:47.760 maybe we spend too much time talking about these things 0:03:47.800 --> 0:03:51.160 with each other. You said that the implications were much 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.280 larger than people think. I thought that they were. I 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:55.960 thought that things could have been catastrophic. 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:57.760 Yeah, yeah, they're gone the other way. 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:01.000 So that's yeah, absolutely, this was not something that in 0:04:01.120 --> 0:04:03.480 my head could have been any bigger. Yeah, this is 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:07.520 especially because of the things that have been happening. Sure, 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:09.520 like we're gonna wake up and it's going to be 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:15.480 nineteen fifty. It's gonna be eighteen fifty if you want insurrection. Yeah, well, anyway, 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:16.920 so let's get to what you're talking about. 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:22.800 So the other side of this Supreme Court coin that 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:24.920 we're talking about is going to take a lot more 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:33.000 peeling back because it really, again speaks to the sensibilities 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:34.960 of a lot of people in this country, not just 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.280 conservative folks, but a lot of people who don't understand 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:43.040 affirmative action. So we're gonna educate you today about what 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:48.360 that was, who actually benefited from it, and really what 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:54.680 we've lost here. First, I want to say that Clarence 0:04:54.760 --> 0:05:00.560 Thomas is super whack. He doesn't speak for us, He's 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:06.880 not that dude. And you'll see why we say that Also, 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:12.920 I want to make sure that I say that the 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:21.920 Supreme Court is not necessarily to be all and end all. 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.680 There are checks and balances in government so that no 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:35.720 one branch has supreme authority in perpetuity. Okay, you by 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:37.560 listening to the show like this, and I'm sure you 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.200 listen to other programming, and you seek out ways to 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.920 become a better human being. First off, I applaud you. 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.640 But you're the sort of person that needs to influence 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:50.679 your social circles so that people can think critically about things. 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:52.920 And hopefully we'll kind of give you some perspective today. 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:57.800 I'm going to read from NPR. In a historic decision, 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:01.200 the US Supreme Court on Thursday effectively ended race conscious 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:05.720 admissions programs at colleges and universities across the country. In 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:10.520 a decision divided along ideological lines, the six justice conservative 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:15.320 supermajority invalidated admissions programs at Harvard and the University of 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:19.960 North Carolina. The decision reverses decades of precedent upheld over 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:24.520 the years by narrow Supreme Court majorities that included Republican 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.680 appointed justices. It ends the ability of colleges and universities 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.360 public and private to do what most say they still 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.839 need to do. Consider race as one of the many 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:38.360 factors in deciding which of the qualified applicants to be admitted. 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:45.040 Chief Justice John Roberts, a longtime critic of affirmative action programs, 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.800 wrote the decision for the Court majority, saying that the 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:53.280 nation's colleges and universities must use color blind criteria and admissions. 0:06:54.160 --> 0:07:01.080 Oh if only that were true, real quick, before I 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:09.440 keep reading. Using color blind admissions criteria does not deal 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.400 with like at Harvard, we're going to talk about this Harvard, 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:16.960 forty three percent of the people that attend Harvard, our 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:18.000 legacy attendees. 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.640 Can you explain to our audience what that means? 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:26.000 So if your dad went to Harvard, there's like a 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:34.920 referential treatment for you if you're an applicant. I believe 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.320 effectually that's what it is. Don't don't hold you to it. 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.600 If you want more exact. 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.160 I mean, it's it's nepotism, yeah right, yeah, as a legacy. Yes, 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:45.560 my parents went to school here, right, so I get 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:46.320 to go to school here. 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:54.680 Add to that that the life based circumstances that really 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:59.760 need to line up or there to be impactful, meaningful 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:02.720 not like, Okay, we let three black people in this 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:04.800 year and the class is fifty thousand people. You know 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.080 what I'm saying, We're there to be impactful numbers that 0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:11.520 really make a difference, and we're not attaining progress according 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:16.360 to anyone else's timetable, but indeed our own black people's timetable. 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.000 These things need to be addressed. This is not just 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.119 a Harvard thing. This is a thing with our corporate 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:27.000 culture in this country. With law enforcement, I believe it's 0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:31.480 like sixty five percent of all police officers are white men. Judges, 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.839 same thing, you know, on and on and on. This 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:38.599 is when people talk about systemic issues, systemic racism, that 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:43.480 these are issues that privileged white people and really prevent 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:50.480 barriers to black people, and they operate more or less 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:56.120 in perpetuity unless unchecked by something a lah affirmative action. Okay, 0:08:57.000 --> 0:09:01.000 I'll keep reading. The majority of opinion says quote many 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:05.560 universities have for too long concluded wrongly that the touchdown 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:10.240 of an individual's identity is not challenges bested, but skills 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.200 built or lessons learned, but the color of their skin. 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:19.560 Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice. Okay, Now, 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.760 what does he think has been happening. Right, It's like 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:29.319 it's like turning a blind eye your own privilege, your 0:09:29.400 --> 0:09:33.520 own how these things help you. But when it becomes 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:36.840 formalized for the benefit of someone else who is seeking 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:42.400 to kind of equal things out, there's there's some equity 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:47.280 built into the equation, equitable treatment, if you will, Then 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:49.800 all of a sudden, it's well, whoa, whoa, we can't 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.280 have this. In other words, I've said it recently on 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:53.520 the show too, and I really need to get this 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:54.360 quote quote right. 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:55.480 But to. 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:01.640 The privileged, quality feels like oppression. 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:07.479 So that's kind of what the idea that these admissions 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:15.440 offices have been admitting people just because they're black. It's 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:20.600 such a ridiculous thing to think, especially for a Supreme 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:25.960 Court justice who either knows better right and is shaping 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:31.880 this false narrative intentionally, or doesn't and therefore is drastically 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.760 underqualified to be a Supreme Court justice. 0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:38.720 This is where we're going with this. But they still 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:47.760 ignore their perch, right, they ignore where they stand and 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.000 how they got there, and then they look at other 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:57.320 people and okay, well, affirmative action is unconstitutional. Well, then 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.839 we have four hundred years of unconstitutionedtional behavior in this 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:04.280 country that we need to remedy because now the systems 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:07.200 are built and they're self refueling and self perpetuating. 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:10.280 I have to think, right, and I have to say 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.280 the word think because I know, but I have to 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:16.520 say the word think sure that he understands that even 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:19.119 with affirmative action, it didn't. 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:22.720 Flip in our favor. Yeah, we're not. Affirmative action did 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:24.520 not turn us into the majority. 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.640 Yeah, I didn't graduate from Harvard, even those that did 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:31.480 were the minority yet absolutely, Yeah, like by a lot. 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.040 And I think your point that you made earlier is 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:38.040 that to graduate from Harvard, you can't just show up 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:40.559 and be black and that's it. You have to be 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:45.199 exceptional first, right, So this is just making sure that 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:49.680 exceptional black people were included among the ranks, to. 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:54.440 Make sure that exceptional black people were considered considered. Yeah, 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:59.400 it didn't assure you were admitted. You got a chance 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.320 to apply, Yeah and be taking serious. That's like, how 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.360 dare you do you remember what a chance? You're gonna 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:06.079 help me explain. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.200 You remember what happened with the football people when they 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.880 were trying to hire black coaches, but they weren't really 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.840 trying to hire them. Well, it's not what happened, past sence, 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:15.560 So tell me, tell us about the story. 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.319 Because the rule in the NFL. I don't even know 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:21.440 if this is if it's still a thing, because it's 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.960 proven to be so ineffective. But the Rooney rule made 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:28.880 it so that when hiring a head coach you had 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:33.760 to interview a black candidate. It did not require that 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:40.720 you hired them. And it's been a failure because they'd 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:46.600 invite someone like Ramses, someone like you to say they 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:51.320 met that very very low standard, interviewed a black guy. 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:53.559 Now we're going to hire the person we wanted to 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:57.240 hire anyway. And now, even though the majority of the 0:12:57.360 --> 0:13:04.160 players are black, they pretend that there is not a 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:08.360 pipeline for there to be black people in charge in 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:11.600 the head coach position or the general manager position, which 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:13.800 are the people who make the decisions and pretty much 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:20.280 run these franchises. So these things are created because left 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:26.199 to their own decisions, a lot of people would not 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:28.959 even consider black people for these opportunities. 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.400 Okay, thinking these rules had. 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:35.280 To be instituted just for us to be considered. 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:40.760 So watch this again. It's hard for them to look 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:46.160 at themselves with that same level of critical thinking. Right, 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.920 they're like, well I got here, honestly, Well, they have 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:51.880 the false. 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.240 There's this false idea that this country is a meritocracy 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:02.320 where if you're better or you know, bigger or faster 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.000 than you win and we know better. 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.199 Yeah, we have thousands of years that show us that 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:09.880 that's not it's not even remotely true. 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:12.640 You know, left to our own devices, are we are 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:19.160 not fair? Especially here. You know, my kid was smart, 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.440 so he got in. You don't think it helps that 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:24.160 that building is named after you, sir. 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:27.680 Yeah, there's more to it than just that. There's lots 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:34.440 of smart people. But the hypocrisy is on full display, 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:37.880 and it nowhere is it on better display than with 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:42.120 Clarence Thomas. I remember when we went to the National 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:44.600 Museum of African American History and Culture and they had 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.600 this huge photo of They're a good Marshall. There was 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:50.480 this huge celebration of Katanji Brown Jackson, and then they 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.400 had this little tiny picture of Clarence Thomas because he 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:55.360 is black and he was on the Supreme Court. That's 0:14:56.400 --> 0:15:00.480 technically true, but there was no celebration in the way 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:02.760 that there was there a good Marshall and Katanji Brown Jackson. 0:15:02.800 --> 0:15:04.760 Now you could say he was the first black woman, 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:07.240 he was the first black Supreme Court justice. Clarence Thomas 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:09.200 found in the middle. Oh, he doesn't, you know, he's 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:11.400 not really breaking new ground here, but I think that. 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:13.520 I mean, what you just said is the point. Though, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:16.360 How are you not breaking new grown? 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:18.280 How did you? 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.040 How did you get there and decide status quose? Fine? 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:22.520 Like that's the problem. 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.840 That's why there's no celebrations, Like how do you from 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:30.480 where you're from get there a place that should have 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.160 felt impossible to get to and then say, all right, 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:34.720 my work here is done. 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.000 And for those of you listening who don't know where 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:41.400 Clarence Thomas is from and his story, we're gonna we're 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:43.960 gonna share that with you. Actually, let's just do it 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:45.680 right now. Let's let's share it right now. So we 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.520 have a clip from stephen A stephen A. Smith, So 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:50.600 go ahead and play that clip. 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:56.600 Dou Catholic, originally intended to be a priest, actually decided 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.280 not to be that, by the way, because he became 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:05.200 frustrated of the church's insufficient attempt to combat racism. Ended 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:09.720 up attending Yale Law School via affirmative action. He attended 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:13.440 law school. He was an affirmative action student. Gets better 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:19.040 appointed by Ronald Reagan as chairman of the Equal Employment 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:24.360 Opportunity Commission. This man once oversaw the EEOC. The very 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:28.680 job he held was to address racial inequality in this country. 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:32.120 He made it to the Supreme Court, second Black the 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.040 history of the Supreme Court. His predecessor was the great 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:39.480 third Good Marshal. I could easily go into Clarence Thomas, 0:16:39.840 --> 0:16:41.920 and I think doctor Michael Eric Dyson put it best. 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:43.320 He said, this is the face of a man who 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.440 climbed the ladder of affirmative action to his present perch 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:49.000 of power, only to help destroy the very ladder on 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:52.440 which he ascended. You used affirmative action to climb the 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.480 ladder that you climbed to success, and then did everything 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:57.760 you could to knock it down so nobody else could 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:02.520 come up the same way you did. That is Clarence Thomas. 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:08.040 Okay, Now I want to read a quote from Clarence Thomas, 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.760 or read a passage here. Justice Clarence Thomas took the 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.080 unusual step of reading from the bench parts of his 0:17:16.320 --> 0:17:19.440 lengthy concurring opinion meaning he was on the side of 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:28.760 people trying to gut affirmative action. He wrote, Sorry, Thursday's decision, 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.320 he wrote, sees the university's admissions policies for what they are, 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:37.480 rudderless race based preferences. Those policies fly in the face 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:43.159 of our colorblind constitution. Okay, so Justice Clarence Thomas actually 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:52.359 read that. Okay. Now there are people that will say, listen, man, 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:55.879 that's black people, black people's problem, black people's issue. What 0:17:55.960 --> 0:18:01.040 do they have to do with it? Okay, Well there's 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:07.440 more to this story, Okay, because affirmative action didn't just 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:14.280 help black people. Okay, there's a lot more here. And 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:18.720 by the way, there's a good friend of the show 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:21.520 and a good friend of me and Q. Isaac's the third, 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.800 the son of the great Isaac Hays, the singer and 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:26.400 the owner founders. 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:30.119 Singer, composer, writing director, producer. Isaac Hays. 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:34.399 Yeah, and Isaac's the third is the owner and founder 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:37.000 of fan Base, the social media app that you and 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:39.160 I are big fans of. If you're not a big 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.720 fan of Twitter, really algorithms and all kinds of nonsense 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:46.840 fan bases where you belong. The owner and the founder 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.760 of fan base. Isaac has put up a post recently 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:56.960 that said that this effort of the Supreme Court to 0:18:57.040 --> 0:18:59.640 gut affirmative action goes all the way back to twenty sixteen. 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:05.560 Then he says, but you didn't vote though, right, And 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.359 so again we're talking about voting, and earlier when we 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:11.960 talked about what the Supreme Court did that was good, 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:19.640 hopefully end upholding or rather pushing back against people's rights 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:22.159 or states rights, to jerry mander away the black the 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:27.280 influence of the black vote, voting matters, and for everyone 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.760 who thinks that your vote doesn't matter, it does. Because 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:36.560 it was a conservative president, it's stacked a now conservative 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:41.720 Supreme Court that now it's taken away abortion. They've taken 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:45.119 away affirmative action, as we've discussed, they have taken away 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:52.639 protections against our lgbtqia plus brothers and sisters. They've taken 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:57.320 away Listen, if you have student loans, the current president 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.680 was trying to forgive twenty thousand dollars the student loans 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:05.680 for everybody fifty thousand? Was it okay? Fifty thousand dollars 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.119 a student loans? So if you have student loans, the 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:12.000 government or the president had a plan in place to 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.200 forgive that that would have made a real measurable impact 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:17.679 on you and your life and your immediate here and now, 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:22.280 the same government that forgave all those pandemic loans, they 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:28.240 have the capacity to do so this ship hasn't sunk, 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:31.280 and all those pandemic loans were forgiven. But this is 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:33.360 for every man. This isn't for business owners, This isn't 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.480 for you, know, this is for you if you have 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:41.200 student loans or people that you might know. Right, the 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:47.640 same Supreme Court push back on those efforts, and now 0:20:48.280 --> 0:20:51.960 the presidential administration underneath Joe Biden has to find another 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:58.680 way to deliver that relief to the American public. So 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:03.199 your vote shapes outcomes absolutely. And Isaac Cays was right. 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.200 I want to read something before we move on. This 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:11.320 is from the Onion. This is by Cicero Thompson. I 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:15.359 decided to become a slave so one day my descendants 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:18.880 could steal college admission spots. 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:22.320 Affirmative action in the world. 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:25.760 Of higher education can be an incredibly difficult topic to address. 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:29.440 While many people have strong opinions about how the policy 0:21:29.480 --> 0:21:33.720 affects racing college admissions, I as an enslaved person, have 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:38.240 uniquely personal ties to the issue. Back in the year 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:42.040 eighteen twenty three, I decided to become a slave so 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:46.760 one day my descendants could steal college admission slots. 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:50.600 Now it was a tough decision, but boy did it 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:51.640 pay off big time. 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:54.720 When I opted to become a slave and work in 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:58.440 cotton fields in South Carolina, I did it with hope 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:02.439 that in two hundred years my progeny would have an 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:07.240 unfair advantage while applying to colleges. Deep down, I knew 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:10.399 that if I sold my body and worked for no 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:13.920 pay at the hands of my sadistic, violent master, then 0:22:14.080 --> 0:22:19.120 one day my great great great great great grandchild would 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:22.920 be able to prevent some middle class white kid from 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:26.800 getting into their dream school. Sorry, Cotin, thanks to me, 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:31.639 your fifteen thirty SAT score won't be enough. I remember 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:34.520 it like it was yesterday. I was living in Senegal, 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:40.680 free and happy, but then had an idea. What if 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:43.440 I got on a ship and went to a land 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:46.560 I had never heard of, a place where I knew 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:50.760 no one, did not speak the language, and spent sixteen 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:57.200 hours a day doing forced labor while getting whipped and beaten. Yes, 0:22:57.320 --> 0:23:00.240 I thought, if that's what it takes for my prog 0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:03.040 you need to bump someone just as deserving from the 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:04.920 admissions list, I'll do it. 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:06.840 It was the perfect plan. 0:23:07.720 --> 0:23:10.000 If I played my cards right, I could all but 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:12.960 ensure that my descendants would apply to schools, give the 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:15.840 college no choice but to admit them, and force some 0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:20.920 so so so white kids into their second or third 0:23:21.080 --> 0:23:21.800 choice schools. 0:23:22.880 --> 0:23:24.960 Now, folks, there's more to read. 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:28.440 And I hope you've caught on by now sarcastic that 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:32.840 this is a sarcastic isn't even the right word, but 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:38.040 that this is written to be heard as ridiculous. 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:42.800 Absolutely well, I'm glad you shared that with us. I 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:45.000 wanted us to play a video just to leave you 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:48.240 with some final thoughts. This video comes from Cassim Rashid, 0:23:48.720 --> 0:23:50.440 so let's fire that one off. 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:55.040 Here's the thing that magas don't seem to understand about 0:23:55.080 --> 0:23:58.800 affirmative action. It was never about admitting unqualified black kids. 0:23:58.920 --> 0:24:01.800 It was all about ensuring that qualified black kids could 0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:04.760 actually get a fair shake at admission. Megas want us 0:24:04.800 --> 0:24:07.919 to forget at the levels of systemic racism in universities. 0:24:07.960 --> 0:24:10.879 I mean, my god, did they realize that HBCUs exists? 0:24:10.960 --> 0:24:17.240 Specifically because after graping, enslaving, murdering, lynching, and torturing black 0:24:17.280 --> 0:24:19.960 people for four hundred years, they wouldn't even allow black 0:24:20.080 --> 0:24:22.399 children to read a book, so black people had to 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:25.200 build their own schools. And for those claiming that systemic 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:28.840 racism is over, when when did those systems of white 0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:32.080 supremacy stop? Because right now black and brown schools get 0:24:32.119 --> 0:24:35.520 twenty three billion less in funding than white schools despite 0:24:35.560 --> 0:24:38.359 serving the same number of students. Because even now, forty 0:24:38.359 --> 0:24:40.560 three percent of white students at Harvard are there only 0:24:40.640 --> 0:24:42.480 because of legacy, and three quarters of. 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:45.120 Them would not have qualified unmerit. 0:24:44.880 --> 0:24:47.600 Meaning they took a seat from a more qualified Black, 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:50.320 Asian or white student. And spare me the magas who 0:24:50.359 --> 0:24:53.600 say we had to repeal affirmative action because it's discriminatory 0:24:53.680 --> 0:24:56.720 to Asians. No, first of all, agents also benefited from 0:24:56.720 --> 0:25:00.119 affirmative action. And moreover, is this the same GOP that 0:25:00.200 --> 0:25:04.240 near unanimously voted to block a resolution condemning anti Asian 0:25:04.280 --> 0:25:07.720 discrimination the actual unqualified emission you should be upset about. 0:25:07.760 --> 0:25:10.720 Are people like Justice Cavanaugh getting to Yale on legacy. 0:25:10.800 --> 0:25:13.520 The bottom line is this, don't blame black people for 0:25:13.600 --> 0:25:14.560 your own mediocrity. 0:25:15.960 --> 0:25:19.159 It's time for the way Black History effect. Today's Way 0:25:19.160 --> 0:25:21.280 Black History Fact is sponsored by Underround Beach Club. From 0:25:21.280 --> 0:25:23.560