The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Attacking Affirmative Action to Uphold the Privileges of the Wealthy

May 12, 2003

The Supreme Court is now considering suits brought by the "Center for Individual Rights" on behalf of three white students who say they were denied admission to the University of Michigan (U of M) because of "preferences" given black applicants. A decision on this case is expected in June.

U of M’s admissions process works according to a point system. The majority of those points are based on academic factors. This means that the biggest "preference" or advantage goes overwhelmingly to children coming from the very best high schools–the children of the wealthy.

A small number of points are based on "other" factors, including class background or ethnic background. But, even with these points, some of which can go to working class whites as well as blacks, the system is still slanted heavily in favor of the wealthy.

On top of this, the U of M system gives extra points if your parents and other relatives went to U of M–the so-called "legacy." Again, this slants toward the wealthy.

Finally, there are extra points for "Provost’s discretion." Overwhelmingly only the wealthy would have access to a Provost–a CEO at the university–and could get their kid this "preference."

The child of a white worker has hundreds of times more of a chance to be pushed out of consideration by a white wealthy applicant than by the child of a black worker. But you wouldn’t know it from the way the issue was raised.

This is not surprising when you see who is pushing this case. The "Center for Individual Rights" is partially funded by the "Pioneer Fund," a white supremacist organization dedicated to the disgusting notion that whites are genetically superior to blacks.

This is the organization that tries to convince white working class students that "their place" in the university was given to a black student.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The fight that the black population made to open up the universities benefitted the children of white workers. It was this same fight that brought universities to give some extra considerations to applicants who came from the working class or the poor.

The "Center for Individual Rights" wants the children of white workers to blame those of black workers. Better blame the real culprits–those with money, and the system that supports them.