Our government is legally and morally obligated to redress employment and educational inequities stemming from a national history shaped by racism and discrimination. Affirmative action contravenes the principle, first established in The Declaration of Independence, that merit, not privilege, controls an individual's destiny in this constitutional democracy. And standardized testing, the conventional yardstick of merit, is a flawed predictor of academic success or future job performance. There is little debate centered on the esteem of the child whose admission into college or a job is secured by her parents' wealth or social status. Also generating little concern is the affirmative action accorded to the sons and daughters of alumni or the student whose academic mediocrity is shored up by superior athletic ability.
Poverty crosses all racial and ethnic lines.
Consequently, if affirmative action is to serve as a tool of social justice, class, not race, should be the controlling criterion. A program that incorporates the economically disadvantaged does not necessarily preclude one that is also race conscious. Only where a program is narrowly crafted to counteract past or continuing discrimination will classifications based on race, gender or some other suspect classification survive the strict level of constitutional scrutiny required by the present majority of Supreme Court justices. Learning and working in a racially andculturally diverse environment enriches all members of a democratic society preparing to begin the work of the next millennium. Clearly, the spirit of the 14th Amendment and the 1964 Civil Rights Act support a constitutional norm favoring diversity.