NEW YORK, CMC – The Trinidadian-born president of Howard University in Washington, D.C., has joined widespread condemnation of the United States Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, saying it is “very pronounced for Black and Brown students in the U.S.”
“We can’t educate everyone. We already have misplaced racism,” said Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick in response to a question by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on the impact the Supreme Court’s decision will have on the predominantly Black university.
“The Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action is a problem because we have a selection bias,” added Dr. Frederick, the 17th President of Howard University, who was invited by Caribbean-American judges at Kings County (Brooklyn, New York) Courts to deliver the keynote address in a ceremony commemorating Caribbean-American Heritage Month at Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term, downtown Brooklyn.
“It’s a slippery slope,” he continued. “That amendment created funding for these institutions. Somebody in Congress [needs] to challenge that. We’re on a very slippery slope that will take us back.”
Last week, Caribbean-American legislators and immigration advocates condemned the Supreme Court’s nationwide ruling on affirmative action at colleges and universities, saying that the order will seriously affect Black and Brown students.
In a 6-3 vote, with all conservative justices voting in favor and the three liberal justices dissenting, the highest court in America dismissed affirmative action at colleges and universities, ruling that race-conscious admissions programs at the illustrious Harvard University in Massachusetts and the University of North Carolina were unconstitutional.
Thus, the court ended a long-standing admissions policy at colleges and universities in the United States.
“For decades, affirmative action stood as a policy that promoted diversity and a chance at equal education to remedy the lingering impacts of slavery, Jim Crow, and the history of segregation that has threatened to keep the American Dream out of reach for so many people of color,” Caribbean-American Democratic Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, told CMC.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling to dismantle affirmative action in college admissions will have serious consequences for Black and Brown students across the nation and for generations to come,” warned the representative for the predominantly Caribbean 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn. “Our nation was founded on the basic principle that we all deserve the same opportunity to achieve our highest aspirations.”
New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants, said, “With this ruling, the Supreme Court has chosen to ignore our nation’s history and jeopardize our youth’s future.
“The decision was entirely expected from this conservative court, but still extremely hard to hear and to reckon with its implications on the fight for racial equity, diversity, and justice,” he told CMC. “The march forward on these issues has been painfully slow, but essentially forward– now the court is pulling us back, creating the conditions for young people of more color today to have fewer opportunities than the generation before them.
“Students with a legacy of systemic privilege or power may see its benefits, students confronting a legacy of systemic racism and discrimination will see only barriers,” added Williams, noting that in her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “Ignoring race will not equalize a racially unequal society. Equality requires acknowledgment of inequality.”
New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who chairs the Brooklyn Democratic Party, said that the court’s “devastating decision to gut affirmative action in higher education is destroying equitable education for all.
“We’re undoing decades of progress towards evening the scales for racial equality,” said the representative for the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn. “The court considered affirmative action programs at Harvard and UNC (University of North Carolina) unconstitutional. Let’s not forget that, in the 1950s, UNC didn’t even admit Black students to participate in what is now the charge of all leaders, educational inclusion.
“This ruling could have overarching consequences, including undermining workplace diversity and sets a dangerous precedent unraveling the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment (to the U.S. Constitution),” Bichotte Hermelyn cautioned. “SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) disregards the racial inequities and discrimination minorities face in educational access and opportunities.
“We cannot pretend to be colorblind when your race still matters in decision-making,” she added. “And systemic racial barriers should be considered in admissions concerning access to education.”
Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella policy and advocacy organization that represents over 200 immigrant and refugee rights groups throughout New York, said that the U.S. Supreme Court made clear on Thursday that “they either don’t fully comprehend the appalling impact that systemic racism has on our society, or they do know and just don’t care.
“Their decision to terminate the usage of affirmative action policies in college admissions halts what little progress had been made thus far on campuses and throughout the nation to begin to level the playing field for all Americans, regardless of race,” he said. “The Supreme Court’s decision means that higher education closes the door for many students of color while, simultaneously, allowing universities to grandfather in the racist policies of previous generations through the legacy admissions system.
“Denying colleges the right to create intentionally diverse student bodies will be a detriment not only to the students who will be denied a real opportunity to enroll at their college of choice but also to the many students who will lose out on the shared experiences of navigating cultural and racial differences in an increasingly connected world,” Awawdeh added. “The ultimate impact of today’s decision won’t just hurt students of color, but will also reverberate with disastrous consequences throughout our society.”
In writing for the majority, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John C. Roberts said that “the Harvard and UNC admissions programs cannot be reconciled with the equal protection clause guarantees.
“Both programs lack sufficiently focused and measurable objectives warranting the use of race, unavoidably negatively employ race, involve racial stereotyping, and lack meaningful endpoints,” he wrote.
“Nothing in this opinion should be construed as prohibiting universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise,” Justice Roberts added. “In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her experiences as an individual — not based on race.”
The New York-based Institute for Black World (IBW) 21st Century, a Black group, also joined in the condemnation, stating that “in an attempt to reverse the clock of history, the U.S. Supreme Court has halted almost 60 years of progress towards more diversity and equality for Black and Brown youth in universities and colleges across the country.
Frederick, invited by Caribbean-American judges in Brooklyn to speak on the theme, “Colonialism: Divorcing the Crown,” said his philosophy about colonialism “starts with each of us.
“We have to respect each other,” he said. “I want you to engage each other.
“This week, we experienced the Supreme Court ruling,” he noted. “I want us to remember that elections matter. We have the opportunity to engage every day. We also have to engage in the process.”
In 2015, Dr. Frederick was recognized by the then-president of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for his appointment as president of Howard University.
In March 2022, he received Trinidad and Tobago’s highest honor, The Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ORTT).
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