America still has a race problem, but affirmative action isn’t the solution

People walk through the gate on Harvard Yard on June 29 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race-conscious admission policies used by Harvard and the University of North Carolina violate the Constitution. (Getty)

When considering the knotty problem of affirmative action, it’s important to bear in mind, as some of the Supreme Court’s dissenters failed to do, that the issue is no longer Black versus white, in every sense of that term.

We are a multiethnic country, and discriminating against one minority (Asians) to benefit African Americans and whites is not OK. It violates a principle enshrined in the 14th Amendment that states cannot deprive any individual of the equal protection of the laws, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which declares that “No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”