Douglas, I'm sure you would post almost exactly the same comment if we were entering a period of time in which we expected to have difficulty attracting talent.  "We can't punish white males for excelling now, at the time when we need them most!".

Let's not pretend that this situation has any bearing on your opinion. You believe that it is inappropriate to further the opportunities of underrepresented minorities at the expense of already over-privileged white males. 

In order to compete, we need diversity. It has been shown in several studies that diverse teams outperform homogenous teams. You want to be competitive? Diversity helps, it doesn't hurt.

http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters - that's the tip of the iceberg. Google more if you want more.

It is incredibly short-sighted to fail to recognize the importance of diversity on performance.